No Geopolitics Games with COVID-19 Vaccines: Ebrard
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No Geopolitics Games with COVID-19 Vaccines: Ebrard

Photo by:   Jonas Augustin on Unsplash
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Antonio Gozain By Antonio Gozain | Senior Journalist and Industry Analyst - Tue, 08/10/2021 - 11:48

Mexico called on G20 to accept the COVID-19 vaccines already approved by WHO and avoid using them in geopolitics schemes, said Marcelo Ebrard, Foreign Minister of Mexico.

From the start of Mexico’s vaccination campaign, the government has immunized more than 50 million people with over 70 million doses from 6 different laboratories: Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, CanSinoBio, Sputnik V and Sinovac, from Germany, the US, the UK, Russia and China.

While WHO has approved six vaccines, which include those made by Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Sinovac, the EU and the US do not accept at least three of the ones Mexico has been using, including Sinovac’s, despite it being already authorized by WHO for its emergency use.

“There is an agreement with most of the countries of the G20 to accept all the vaccines authorized by WHO, avoid doing geopolitics with the vaccines. If the Organization recognizes and authorizes a vaccine, every country in the world should do it too, not some of them and some not for other reasons,” said Ebrard this morning.

Ebrard explained that the Mexican Government prioritized the COVID-19 emergency and urged other countries to not mix health with politics. “Every country should accept the same (vaccines) and avoid messing politics with health; it is a bad idea. If it is authorized by WHO, which is formed by every country in the world, it should be authorized by all of them.” He also said that his call to the G20 was done under the instruction of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The Mexican Government recommended that fully-vaccinated people with doses authorized by WHO are recognized by the entire world, even if the shots were produced in “developing countries.” This comes following the UK’s negative to accept AstraZeneca vaccines produced in India.

“Some countries are not recognizing certain vaccines but there are no ‘bad vaccines’, they are all good because they help mobility; tourism has hit the hardest because without mobility there is no movement of the international economy and jobs are lost. We want a reciprocal recognition of vaccines and the return millions of jobs and, above all, to reactivate international travel,” said to Forbes Maribel Rodríguez, Vice President of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Mexico also urged G20 countries to promote the creation and use of vaccination certificates recognized in the entire world, said Ebrard. He also asked for a quicker process of vaccine authorization by WHO in order to end the pandemic faster and boost economic recovery.

Photo by:   Jonas Augustin on Unsplash

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