Over 510m jabs given globally but outbreak still surging in many countries
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France's national cycling team in training as people received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine as part of an inoculation campaign at the indoor Velodrome National of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Montigny-le-Bretonneux on Friday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS/LONDON • Health officials have rolled out more than 510 million coronavirus vaccine doses worldwide, but despite the massive effort, the pandemic is still surging in Europe and Latin America - where Brazil has now passed 300,000 deaths.
Some European Union countries are still struggling to get their inoculation campaigns into overdrive, prompting angry outbursts from France, with President Emmanuel Macron saying there was a "new type of world war".
"We are looking in particular at Russian and Chinese attacks and attempts to gain influence through the vaccine," he said.
With more than 2.7 million people dead from a virus that first emerged in China in late 2019, leaders everywhere are under pressure to ensure vaccine supplies for their populations.
An AFP tally of global vaccinations shows over 512.91 million doses had been administered by Friday, with 133 million in the US.
Vaccines cannot come quickly enough to Brazil, which is suffering from an outbreak that has chalked up over 12 million cases.
The political heat was turned up on President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday when his predecessor accused him of presiding over the "biggest genocide" in Brazil's history.
"We must save Brazil from Covid-19," said former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The virus has forced governments in all parts of the world to impose drastic restrictions - from curfews and lockdowns, to school closures and travel bans.
Much of Europe is living under a regime that restricts travel and economic activity, and Kenya became the latest African country to order a partial lockdown on Friday, shutting schools and bars in and around the capital Nairobi.
In India, too, a sharp rise in infections will see new measures with worst-hit state Maharashtra, including Mumbai, put under night curfew from today. The nation of 1.3 billion has a seen a renewed virus surge in recent weeks.
France also announced increased checks to enforce travel restrictions in place in Paris and other regions, amid its third wave of infections.
The police checks at train stations, airports and motorway tolls will affect around 20 million people who are living in high-infection zones and are not allowed to travel further than 10km from their home unless for essential reasons.
Meanwhile, Britain is close to striking a vaccine deal with the EU that will remove the threat of the bloc cutting off supplies, The Times reported yesterday.
Under the agreement, the EU will remove its threat to ban the export of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to Britain. In return, the UK government will agree to forgo some supplies of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that had been due to be exported from Holland.
Europe's troubled vaccine roll-out has led to a quarrel with Britain, which has imported 21 million EU-made doses, according to an EU official. Britain said it has done a better job negotiating with manufacturers and arranging supply chains.
Separately, the World Health Organisation has called for millions of vaccine doses to be donated so every country can start immunising within the first 100 days of this year.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
