As COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out globally, Mexico was dissatisfied with the process. The country claimed that it favors richer countries while leaving poorer countries behind in this time of the pandemic.
According to CNN, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard shared to reporters on Tuesday that the United Nations Security Council will be receiving a complaint from the Mexican delegation concerning inequality and inequity. Acts which he emphasized had impeded vaccine access.
Ebrard also mentioned that Mexico was unsatisfied because the countries that produce the COVID-19 vaccine have higher vaccination rates while other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have much less.
In his conclusion, he also added that they would be raising it to the Security Council because it is not fair.
Meanwhile, Mexico has struggled in terms of its vaccine rollout, as the country only managed to administer around 750,000 vaccine doses in their latest record.
But the country has signed purchase agreements for eventual delivery of not less than 230 million doses of numerous COVID-19 vaccines.
With the scarcity of the supply, the government of Mexico is concerned about the possibility of vaccine hoarding by some countries that are supposed to be shared by many worldwide.
In addition, wealthier nations like the United States, China, United Kingdom, and Israel are at the top portion of the list of countries that have administered the most number of vaccines so far. Meanwhile, poorer countries remain to wait for a single dose.
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The World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared in January that while the vaccine brings hope to some, they also become another brick in the wall of inequality between the wealthy and poor countries.
The WHO director also added that even as they speak the language of equitable access, numerous countries and companies continue to prioritize bilateral deals. These deals drove the prices up as they attempt to jump to the front of the line, and it is not right.
WHO officials worry that the kind of behavior posed by some countries and companies may put their equitable distribution facility, called COVAX, in jeopardy.
Despite only aiming to distribute some 2 billion doses of the vaccine globally by the end of the year, many of which would go to poorer countries as it is their primary target.
During the UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Mexico's dissatisfaction focused its complaint on Latin America and the Caribbean. These are only a low portion of the world that was specifically devastated by the global health crisis, Sputnik International reported.
Though it previously announced its plan of distributing more than 35 million doses of vaccine across the region by the end of the second quarter, Anadolu Agency reported that COVAX has not yet started. They also emphasized that they considered the distribution time because more supplies would become available by that time.
However, the number of doses mentioned by COVAX is way lower than the target mentioned by the Pan American Health Organization. The Pan American Health Organization previously stated that to control the pandemic, 500 million doses should be administered in the region alone.
