Mexico demands UN look at inequity of low COVID-vaccine rates

MEXICO CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Mexico will this week raise concerns at the United Nations Security Council about unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines globally, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday.

Ebrard said the government would set out concerns of Mexico and Latin America on Wednesday about “inequality” of access before the council, on which Mexico currently sits.

“The countries that produce (vaccines) have very high vaccination rates, and Latin America and the Caribbean much less,” Ebrard told reporters at a regular government news conference, adding that the situation was “not fair.”

Speaking alongside Ebrard, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the government would like to see the UN address vaccine hoarding and equity so that “all countries have the possibility of vaccinating their inhabitants.”

Mexico has signed agreements with international pharmaceutical firms for millions of doses for its 126 million people amid global delays and shortages of some vaccines.