Demand for cheap Covid vaccine prevails over US bid to target WHO DG

Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 18

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The American agenda of cornering China at a high level World Health Organisation (WHO) failed to get traction with EU and developing countries instead seeking free distribution of Covid vaccines, if they are developed.

The US was also unable to persuade delegation leaders of other countries who spoke on Monday to concertedly press for a probe against the WHO.  Most speakers, in fact, prioritised cheap availability of vaccines and continued hand-holding by the WHO.

The proposal by 40 countries supplemented by a concerted media campaign to include Taiwan as an Observer at the WHO General Assembly found little interest among delegates of over 100 countries when they were sounded out a night before the beginning of the two-day meet.

As soon as news broke that WHO meet had put the Taiwan issue on the backburner, the US immediately condemned the decision and accused the WHO DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of conspiring to exclude Taiwan. It also accused China of being “spiteful”.

The US had begun changing its focus of attack from the WHO DG Tedros after realising that it had led to a push back from African countries in favour of the Ethiopian. In fact on May 13, Geneva-based African ambassadors condemned the campaign “from certain political quarters” to discredit Tedros and alleged that there was an “unfortunate racial undertone to the criticism”.

The statement noted that US leads the casualty rate in Covid deaths and “failures at the national level should not be attributed to the WHO”.

At the WHO meet on Monday, the general sense was that a review of WHO’s handling of COVID-19 pandemic can be taken up after nations finish dealing with COVID-19. This was the message from Djibouti (speaking for Francophonic countries), Estonia (Nordic and Baltic countries), Nauru (Pacific Island Countries), Congo (Africa Union) and Croatia and Poland (European Union).

In fact, the first speaker from Azerbaijan mounted a reverse attack on the US for continuing to impose unilateral sanctions on some countries even during a pandemic. Azerbaijan also raised the demand for regulating pharma companies engaged in vaccine research and selling COVID-19 related medicines.

The India-backed resolution seeking several measures, including a review of the WHO’s role during the pandemic, stood diluted as result of which the US did not provide it backing. Originally proposed by Australia, whose current Conservative government is hostile to China, sources said European Union diplomats played a role in blunting the edges of the resolution.

In particular, the US is opposed to portions in the resolution that call for cheap, timely and universal access to COVID-19 vaccine. Sources said the US was opposed to a clause in the resolution seeking “universal and equitable access to all quality health technologies and products in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a global priority”.

The US was also opposed to another clause that seeks to use the UN system to supply any future vaccines at cheap prices. However, several US prestigious US institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have disassociated from the Trump led attacks on WHO.