Vaccines must reach everyone equally: JOH at Cumbre Iberoamericana

Andorra.

Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández said Wednesday in his virtual speech at the XXVII Ibero-American Summit that vaccines against Covid-19 “should reach everyone equally.”

“It’s not fair what’s happening today, it’s about people’s lives,” emphasized Hernández, explaining that “despite having made all the arrangements in time when it became known about the creation of these vaccines,” and “trust in multilateralism “to achieve it”, to date we have gotten very few vaccines, drippers. “

He added that this situation is slowing down plans for the reconstruction and economic reactivation of his country, which, in addition to the covid-19 pandemic, which began to spread in March 2020, suffered the devastating passage of tropical storms Eta in November. and Iota.

According to official sources, the pandemic in Honduras left about 5,000 deaths and more than 200,000 infections.

Hernández emphasized that in 2020 Hondurasconsidered one of the most vulnerable countries, was “worst hit in the world” by the pandemic and the two tropical storms.

These setbacks put the country “in a very precarious situation”, in addition to the abrupt halt to the economic growth brought by Honduras, considered one of the highest in the world. Latin America.

The president thanked the European Union and against the government of Spain for being “the first to respond” to Honduras’ call in light of the damage caused by tropical storms Eta and Iota.

In addition, he recalled that Queen Letizia visited northern Honduras in December and was “able to personally verify the destruction” left by the two tropical storms in less than 15 days.

Proposal to multiply vaccine production

Hernández also indicated that if the current production capacity of vaccines against covid-19 is insufficient, Honduras proposes that the Ibero-American top help multiplication, either by transferring patents for other laboratories to make them or through agreements with the pharmaceutical industry. .

Before that he said: Honduras It has financial resources and “I am sure other countries and other organizations can help with this funding, under the Covax mechanism, in the face of the monopolization of countries that have more than the necessary doses for their populations.

Honduras, a country of 9.5 million inhabitants, has received less than 1% of the vaccines.

The president also highlighted his country’s struggle to reduce criminal violence and drug trafficking from South America. USA.

He added that Honduras is no longer at the top of the “painful list” of the world’s most violent countries and that drug trafficking through his country has been reduced by 95%, according to data from the United States.

“As you can see, there are a lot of challenges facing our country for the year 2021 that we think would be different at this point with mass vaccination, but it’s not happening; neither here nor in most countries,” the president emphasizes.

According to him, forums are like Ibero-American top they become “indispensable” in times of crisis to unite and seek solutions among all countries.

Hernández advocated that success accompany the Ibero-American summit “at this very difficult time for humanity.”

.Source