“Increasing vaccination in Africa is not only our humanitarian duty, but it is also in Europe’s best interest” pointed out MEP György Hölvényi in his contribution to the topical debate titled: The EU’s Role in Combatting the Covid-19 Pandemic on the plenary sitting of the European Parliament. “Increasing vaccination in Africa is not only our humanitarian duty, but it is also in Europe’s best interest, as low vaccination rate threatens with appearance of new mutations and with new epidemic waves.” pointed out MEP György Hölvényi, Coordinator for EPP Group in the Committee on Development in his contribution to the topical debate titled: The EU’s Role in Combatting the Covid-19 Pandemic on the plenary sitting of the European Parliament.
“Today, vaccination coverage in Europe is over 66 percent. In Africa, however, only 16 percent of the population has been vaccinated. This disparity is tragic,” stressed the KDNP MEP in his speech. The politician said that “one of the biggest problems in Africa is the lack of security. Without security, the delivery and storage of vaccines cannot be guaranteed.”
MEP György Hölvényi said that the only sustainable solution is to increase production capacity in Africa, adding that “in addition to building local capacity, we must encourage Member States’ offerings. A good example is Hungary, which has so far supported its African partners with more than one and a half million doses of vaccines. The Christian Democrat politician stressed: “We must also take into account the other factors that hinder the increase of vaccination rate in developing countries. The EU must also put more emphasis on training of local health professionals and invest in basic health infrastructure.
“Increasing vaccination in Africa is not only our humanitarian duty, but it is also in Europe’s best interest, as low vaccination rate threatens with the appearance of new mutations and with new epidemic waves. In Africa, Europe must increase trust in its partnership with all its decisions. But let us be careful, because unfulfilled promises could completely undermine our partnership.” – the politician concluded.
Strasbourg, 24 november, 2021
