Reuters reported: Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has accused rich countries of committing moral crimes by hoarding the Covid-19 vaccine at a time when poor countries are struggling to get vaccinated.
According to Pak Sahafat on Sunday, quoted by this English news agency, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has accused rich countries of committing “moral crimes” by accumulating doses of the Covid-19 vaccine while poor countries try to get the vaccine.
Brown, who now serves as the UN special envoy, called on US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders to send vaccines to Africa immediately from US and European depots.
“In an article published in the Sunday Mirror, Brown was quoted as saying by an Irfinity intelligence firm: “Western countries have monopolized nearly 300 million doses of the vaccine, while only 70 million people on the African continent have been vaccinated so far.”
He said: “By New Year’s Eve, even if every European and American adult receives a booster dose and all children over the age of 12 are vaccinated, the West will still have a surplus of one billion doses of the vaccine.”
Brown stressed: “We are in a new ‘arms race’ to get vaccines to the people as soon as possible, but in this arms race the West has dealt a heavy blow to vaccine resources.”
The UN special envoy added: “The control of rich countries over vaccine stockpiles has prevented Kovacs (the Covid-19 Global Vaccine Access Program) from fulfilling its promise to send two billion vaccines to poorer countries this year.”
Brown said the accumulation of vaccines has prevented G7 countries from delivering the promised vaccine to Africa and low-income countries on time.