Covid-19: Uruguay denounces “supply deficit” of vaccines at UN General Assembly

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Uruguayan president stressed that it is important “to be clear” about the access issues, as the vaccination process “is essential to regain freedom” for every nation.

“There was a race against time to develop vaccines, they were developed at record speed. I don’t want to talk about patents or formulas, but about access and there has been a supply deficit of vaccines and not equitable. Countries were forced to purchase vaccines on their own,” he stated.

Lacalle Pou stressed that two years ago, “the world changed completely” and humanity “proved its capacity to adapt,” forced to face a pandemic with no plan, which exposed its strengths and weaknesses.

In addition to recognizing the work of researchers, doctors and teachers in tackling the health crisis, he also made reference to the differences between countries, fundamentally structural, in terms of democratic quality and freedom.

“Uruguay has an immense democratic vocation and a very strong appreciation of individual freedom, as the individual’s purest state. This pandemic has shown that unequal access to the tools enables the enjoyment of freedom in different ways and that the false dichotomy between the presence of the State and individual freedom has collapsed,” he said.

The president highlighted his citizens’ exercise of “responsible freedom” in dealing with the health crisis, in which there was no compulsory confinement and “an important part of the pandemic was overcome with no major setbacks.”

As within the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), Lacalle Pou reiterated Uruguay’s intention to “open up more to the world,” calling on governments to ensure that care for their people “does not turn into protectionism,” because “freedom to trade and to compete” is necessary, he said.

Though not naming them – as he did at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) citing Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua – the Uruguayan president pointed out that there are countries in the United Nations that violate human rights and, although he respects non-intervention, he said he should denounce it.

“The defective use of power is detrimental to freedoms, authoritarian governments that fear their people and freedom ultimately impoverish their people for several generations,” he said.