Africa-Press – Tanzania. The East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Peter Mathuki has welcomed President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s plea for global vaccine equity.
Dr Mathuki, who was speaking on the sidelines of the 76th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last week, also commended EAC leaders’ call to waive intellectual property rights to allow more countries, particularly low- and middle-income countries, to produce COVID-19 vaccines.
“I fully support President Samia´s remarks that developing countries must be assisted in addressing the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 to revive economic growth,” explained Dr Mathuki.
The EAC boss insisted that access to vaccines was still a challenge in Africa, even when the world discusses booster shots.
“The principles of solidarity and cooperation in securing equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines should be sustained,” said Dr Mathuki.
In her maiden speech at the General Assembly, President Samia decried the COVID-19 vaccine inequality, noting that high and middle-income countries were now giving booster vaccinations while developing countries such as Tanzania had barely inoculated even two percent of the population.
“The level of vaccine inequity that we see is appalling. It is truly disheartening to see that most of the countries have inoculated less than two per cent of the populace and thus need to seek more vaccines for our people,” she said.
The President was further skeptical of meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold of vaccinating at least 40 percent of people in every country by end of 2021, and at least 70 percent by the first half of 2022.
Meanwhile, Dr Mathuki hailed the East African Heads of State who spoke at the Assembly appealing for support in addressing various issues, among them peace and security, noting the importance of peace to ensure transformative prosperity.
“The East African Community hails President Uhuru Kenyatta for out rightly highlighting the impact of illicit small arms and light weapons has had in mitigating peacekeeping operations worldwide. His call, ´building back better´ is an anthem the region has embraced as it moves towards reviving the region´s growth trajectory, pre-pandemic times,” he added.
The theme for the 76th UN General Assembly is ´Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalise the UN.
It comes against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic and global insecurity, debate at has mostly underscored the need for greater urgency to end the pandemic and ensure an equitable and green recovery, as well as implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
