EFE.- The member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) approved this Saturday, unanimously, to adopt the measures proposed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in the Health Self-Sufficiency Plan for the region developed by the organism.
During the Sixth Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), the 31 countries present spoke in favor of adopting the plan presented by the executive secretary of ECLAC, the Mexican Alicia Bárcena.
Bárcena explained that the plan was requested last March 25 by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to ECLAC, with which it seeks to address the current health emergency and future pandemics.
He pointed out that among the objectives are to guarantee in the short term equal access to vaccines against Covid-19, since many countries have been affected by the lack of them to inoculate the population.
“The main motivation for the plan is unequal access to vaccination,” he said.
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He explained that while countries like Chile already have 87.5% of their population vaccinated, in Haiti only 0.2% have had access to the biological.
“This we cannot allow, that there is an asymmetry of the region with respect to the world,” he settled.
The document, detailed Bárcena, includes an observatory, an inventory of capacities and a very detailed analysis of the pharmaceutical industry, elements to strengthen regulation with a single international agency, in the style of the European Medicines Agency (EMA, for its acronym in English), and a roadmap in this regard.
He explained that the plan has seven lines of action, including a regional platform for clinical trials, consortia for the development and production of vaccines, a regional mechanism for the purchase of vaccines and flexibility to access intellectual property.
Within these ideas, the creation of a transparent and regional mechanism for purchasing vaccines and drugs and a platform for subregional purchases is envisaged.
“We are a market of 650 million people, we can generate an internal market, local production and regional chains,” he said.
“We have identified immediate actions to be carried out in three areas: coordination between national regulatory entities, regional purchasing mechanisms to have universal access to vaccines and the implementation of a regional platform for clinical trials,” he said.
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Bárcena called for the creation of consortia to face the pandemic, take advantage of intellectual property flexibilities and promote a stable regional market.
In this sense, he insisted on implementing immediate actions that Latin America should work on, such as coordinating regulatory entities, renewing Celac’s mandate so that the plan is implemented.
Disaster and Vaccine Fund
After the closing of the summit, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard highlighted a document with 44 agreements reached by the 31 nations that participated in the event.
Among the points, he said, is the creation of a regional fund to face disasters caused by climate change, for which they have raised 15 million dollars from the countries of the region.
In addition, support was agreed for the development, access and production of vaccines in Latin America, “so that we never again have a situation like the one we experienced in 2020 and 2021,” when many leaders wandered in search of vaccines, said Ebrard.
In addition, it was agreed to take a joint position before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to access short and long-term resources that reduce the burden of debt, in addition to a common position before the United Nations Conference on Climate Change where they will demand financing to combat the climate crisis.
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