Published 20:15 IST, September 16th 2020
COVID-19: EU President says 'vaccine nationalism' puts lives at risk
In her speech at the European Parliament, President Leyen warned COVID-19 vaccine nationalism cannot defeat the virus that has impacted livelihoods globally
In a State of the Union address on September 16, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advised EU members to form a more powerful health union that promotes closer cooperation as humans worldwide “are still suffering” from the novel coronavirus. In her speech at the European Parliament Plenary, President Leyen warned that the “vaccine nationalism” cannot defeat the coronavirus that has impacted livelihoods globally.
"None of us will be safe until all of us are safe— wherever we live, whatever we have," she said, adding, ”Vaccine nationalism puts lives at risk and Vaccine cooperation saves them.”
[European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses the plenary during her first State of the Union speech at the European Parliament in Brussels. Credit: AP]
[European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, centre, arrives for a plenary session ahead of her first State of the Union speech at the European Parliament in Brussels. Credit: AP]
The European Commission President made an indirect reference to the US President Donald Trump's approach to the COVID-19 crisis who had opted out of the World Health Organization, abandoning the rest of the nations. Further, in her speech, Von der Leyen said she aimed for 37 per cent of the 750 billion-euro coronavirus recovery fund approved by EU countries to combat the coronavirus pandemic, of which, 30 per cent would be dedicated to the “green” bonds spent on the environmental objectives.
Leyen said, "For me, it is crystal clear -- we need to build a stronger European Health Union,” adding, that the nations needed crisis preparedness and management of “cross-border health threats”.
Addressing the European Parliament in Brussels, European Commission President urged for reinforcement of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and a strengthened European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and pledged to form European BARDA— a special agency for biomedical advanced research and development. She further called for the EU nations to make contributions in the field of health at the forthcoming Conference on the Future of Europe. She said that there were lessons to be learnt and “a future-proof and properly funded EU4Health programme” was needed to address the COVID-19 crisis worldwide.
[European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses the plenary during her first State of the Union speech at the European Parliament. Credit: AP]
World needs to "recover together"
Earlier, in a press conference, the World Health Organization (WHO) had criticised nations against vaccine nationalism. UN health agency's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the Aspen Security Forum in the United States, “Vaccine nationalism is not good, it will not help us.” He said in a video shot at WHO's headquarters in Geneva, ”For the world to recover faster, it has to recover together because it's a globalised world: the economies are intertwined. Part of the world or a few countries cannot be a safe haven and recover."
Updated 20:15 IST, September 16th 2020