“Without international collective action, we run the risk of the virus escaping us”

Friday evening, the meeting by videoconference at the Elysee extended later than expected. It must be said that there were twelve behind their screens, each with a key role in influencing the great powers in the global campaign against the virus and its variants. All have joined since last year, at the initiative of France, a sort of global start-up called ACT-A, for “action accelerator”. All convinced that there is no point in vaccinating in rich countries if we do nothing or if we act too late in poor countries, due to the globalization of trade and travel. Like the director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, with whom Emmanuel Macron had already spoken alone last Monday. But also the executive director of Unicef, Henrietta H. Fore.

During the discussions, she recalled that primary health systems in Africa, dilapidated and overwhelmed by the pandemic, had had to marginalize their traditional fight against malaria or AIDS. The President of the World Bank, David Malpass, also intervened, while his institution has already disbursed 12 billion to help the poorest countries to buy vaccines. Mark Suzman, director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, came to bring his experience.

Hasn’t the organization of the philanthropic couple already released nearly $ 2 billion to support the global effort to fight Covid-19? “A year ago, when the vaccine was not considered for months, this multilateral solidarity was not acquired”, testifies one of the participants in the meeting. “If we had not invented ACT-A very early on, things today would be even worse,” adds this Elyos source, while vaccine nationalism is in full swing in the air of every man for himself.

“We are now engaged in a fight against variants”, recalls Emmanuel Macron

For Emmanuel Macron, this “world war” will only be won at the cost of the greatest international cooperation. “We are now engaged in a fight against variants, which is a real race against time, he confided to the JDD. Without rapid, effective and united international collective action, we run the risk that the virus will escape us. “

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Alarmism? “We are in a pandemic within the pandemic, it is time to be agile, they say at the Elysee. If we do not step up to the niche at the global level, we will be at risk not only health but also ethics . ” “African countries are rightly calling out to us about their access to vaccines, says the Head of State. The ACT-A initiative will have made it possible to secure more than 2 billion doses of vaccines at a much better price than if each country had them. negotiated separately, this is in itself a success. But we still have to step up the efforts, because every week counts. ” Over the next few days, Emmanuel Macron will exchange with his peers from the African Union and relay their messages on Friday during a G7 videoconference meeting organized by Boris Johnson, who is chairing it this year.

As we readily admit at the Élysée Palace, and to openly rejoice, this increased mobilization would not have been the same without the support of the new Biden administration in the United States. Not only did the Democratic president immediately join the WHO from his early hours in the White House, but he also confirmed the release of $ 4 billion to fund ACT-A’s efforts. “It was one of my first topics of discussion with President Biden,” says Emmanuel Macron, while being perplexed about the absence or delay of other great powers in joining the collective effort. “We must work with the Chinese and the Russians so that the vaccines developed by their scientists fit into this great multilateral effort against the pandemic – as soon as they have been the subject of the necessary certifications by the WHO”, pleads he does.

In addition to the “bottlenecks” at the industrial level in the process of manufacturing and supplying vaccines, the blockages or pretexts put forward at this stage which hamper organizations and powers stem from the mistrust of opinions and of States among themselves. “We must demand more transparency, indicates the President of the Republic. Open and transparent science to help us understand the origins of this virus and its evolutions, but also transparency on the contracts concluded between the countries and the pharmaceutical companies. ” By receiving the bosses of the largest of them on Thursday at the Élysée, clear messages were sent. Big Pharma players have an interest in proving that they are engaging in “world war” by not only seeking performance and profit but first of all “the common good”. When the sprint is also a marathon …