(ANSA-AFP) - STRASBOURG, SEP 15 - The European Union is to
donate another 200 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to low-income
countries, more than doubling its present pledge, the bloc's
chief said on Wednesday. The extra doses announced by European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen come on top of 250
million shots the EU has already promised to give to other
countries, particularly ones in Africa. "I can announce today
that the commission will add a new donation of another 200
million doses until the middle of next year," she told the
European Parliament in her annual State of the European Union
address. Von der Leyen told the Strasbourg assembly the donation
is "an investment in solidarity, and it is an investment also in
global health". She recognised the disparity that has emerged
between economically advanced countries such as the United
States and those in Europe, which have pushed ahead in
vaccinating the majority of their populations against the
coronavirus, and poorer nations that are struggling to get hold
of supplies. "With less than one percent of global doses
administered in low income countries, the scale of injustice and
the level of urgency is obvious," she said. Von der Leyen hailed
the Europe Union's vaccination roll-out, which has seen more
than 70 percent of its adult population fully inoculated.
(ANSA-AFP).
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