Doctor: Non-provision of COVAX vaccines to Azerbaijan contradicts WHO principles

Despite that several vaccines against coronavirus produced in Europe were supposed to be sent to Azerbaijan under COVAX initiative, unfortunately, this issue hasn’t been resolved yet, a well-known oncologist, Azerbaijani doctor of medical sciences, professor Adil Geybulla told Report.

He said that the principle of equitable distribution of COVID vaccines isn’t observed.

“This, of course, contradicts the principles of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the fight with pandemic. A pandemic is not only a problem for one country, but for the whole world. Therefore, to solve the problem, it is necessary to demonstrate mutual solidarity,” he said.

Geybulla noted that Azerbaijan was the first in the South Caucasus to receive a vaccine with the support of fraternal Turkey and began vaccination of citizens.

“Since January 18, Azerbaijan has been using Coronovac vaccines produced by the Chinese company Sinovac. In any case, we have found a way out. However, this should be regarded as an unfair position in relation to Azerbaijan. There is no other explanation for this. There have always been double standards with regard to Azerbaijan, both on the Karabakh and other issues,” he added.

Since January 18, Azerbaijan has vaccinated 494,403 people against coronavirus. Vaccination is carried out on a voluntary basis and at the expense of the state.

Azerbaijan isn’t included in the list of 18 countries that will receive Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines within the COVAX platform. However, Azerbaijan was one of the first 50 countries that appreciated the initiative of the COVAX platform to develop vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was created last year, and joined this cooperation.

Azerbaijan supports the distribution of vaccines among the countries on the principles of justice and solidarity.

A striking example of this is the adoption of the resolution “Ensuring equal, affordable, timely and universal access to vaccines against COVID-19,” initiated by Azerbaijan as chair country of the Non-Aligned Movement at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council.