Turkey's President Erdogan urges equal access to vaccines

By Iclal Turan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed "severe injustices" in acquiring COVID-19 vaccines, urging world leaders to ensure fair access to the jabs for everyone.

Speaking at the virtual Global Health Summit hosted by Italy, Erdogan said 80% of the vaccines have been secured by high or upper-middle-income countries.

"While a majority of the population in developed countries has been vaccinated with at least one dose, this rate has not reached even 1% in Sub-Saharan Africa," he said. "We support the efforts of multilateral financial institutions, and initiatives for fair access to vaccines."

Stressing that Turkey has been trying to share the vaccines it has with other countries, Erdogan said: "As soon as it is ready, we will offer our indigenously developed vaccine to the benefit of our citizens, as well as of all humanity."

Turkey has so far sent medical devices and equipment to 158 countries and 12 international organizations, he told world leaders.

The Turkish president warned against "new walls and a new kind of discrimination between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated."

"There is no justification for any country that is a member of the World Health Organization to refuse to accept a vaccine approved by this body," he added.