The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
February 16, 2021

New World Trade Organization Chief Warns Against Vaccine Nationalism
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The World Health Organization has granted emergency use authorization to
the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine. It's just the second vaccine, after
Pfizer's, to be approved for the WHO's COVAX initiative, aimed at
bringing vaccines to lower-income countries across the world. On Monday,
the new head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
warned against vaccine nationalism, saying attempts by wealthier nations
to hoard vaccines would backfire.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: "The pandemic is a problem of the global commons.
So taking care of the population and being nationalistic with respect to
vaccines won't work this time."

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is Nigeria's former finance minister and former
managing director of the World Bank. On Monday, she became the first
woman and the first African appointed to lead the World Trade
Organization.


.