The French government cried foul Thursday after its homegrown pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said it would reserve first shipments of any COVID19 vaccine for the United States.
PARIS - The French government cried foul Thursday after its homegrown pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said it would reserve first shipments of any COVID-19 vaccine for the United States, slamming the move as "unacceptable" in a crisis that has killed nearly 300,000 people worldwide.
"That's how it will be because they've invested to try and protect their population, to restart their economy," he said. "I've been campaigning in Europe to say the US will get vaccines first." NGOs also denounced Sanofi's move, accusing the firm of trying to blackmail France into contributing more money, and of fuelling a global race among major powers to be the first to immunize their populations, potentially at the expense of poorer nations.
"Now is not the time to allow the interests of the wealthiest corporations and governments to be placed before the universal need to save lives," the signatories said ahead of the World Health Organization's annual meeting next week.'EU MUST BE EFFECTIVE' "The Americans have been effective in this period. The EU must be just as effective in helping us make this vaccine available quickly," he said.
It is one of dozens of vaccine projects underway to combat the coronavirus outbreak that originated in China last December.
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