Latin American countries seek a fair distribution of vaccines

Six leaders of Latin American and Caribbean countries have asked the international community for equal availability of vaccines against the coronavirus, calling on the countries with the most doses to share it with others.

"We make a strong appeal to countries that have excess doses and to those that have vaccinated at-risk groups to take steps to distribute this excess fairly and as soon as possible," they emphasized in a joint statement published by Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado.

Apart from him, the invitation was signed by Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, Mexican Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Michael Holness, Bolivian President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora, Ecuadorian Gullermo Lasso Mendoza and Uruguayan Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou.

Of the 1,3 billion doses consumed worldwide, more than half were consumed in five countries that account for 50 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), according to official data.

"No one will be safe until we are all safe. Stopping the pandemic will only be possible when the vaccine reaches vulnerable population groups around the world," they say, noting that low-income countries have received only 0,3 percent of the world's doses.

The emergence of new, more dangerous variants of the virus that causes covid-19 shows that isolated vaccination, in some countries, is not an effective strategy for getting out of the acute phase of the pandemic, they added.

Five Latin American countries are among the ten countries in the world with the most infections per 100.000 inhabitants in the last two weeks - Uruguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Colombia, according to data collected by AFP.

World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have already made similar calls for equal access to vaccines.