Macron Urges Stepped-Up Efforts to Send Vaccines to Poor Countries

French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing a protective face mask. Reuters file photo
French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing a protective face mask. Reuters file photo
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Macron Urges Stepped-Up Efforts to Send Vaccines to Poor Countries

French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing a protective face mask. Reuters file photo
French President Emmanuel Macron, wearing a protective face mask. Reuters file photo

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged stepped-up international efforts to get vaccines to poor countries, saying China and Russia should be involved more.

While France’s own vaccination program has suffered from delivery delays and bureaucratic troubles, Macron told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in an interview published Sunday that “African countries are asking us, justifiably, about their access to vaccines.”

Macron met with global pharmaceutical CEOs and vaccine experts in recent days to discuss programs to fight vaccine inequality, to help end the pandemic and revive economies faster.

Among those programs is the UN-backed COVAX, which has suffered a slow start because of funding shortages and lack of commitment from some major world powers.

“We must speed up this effort further because each week counts,” Macron was quoted as saying. He also said vaccines made in China and Russia should be “integrated into this great multilateral effort against the pandemic.”



Monsoon Floods Sweep Away 18 People and Main Bridge Linking Nepal to China

Monsoon Floods Sweep Away 18 People and Main Bridge Linking Nepal to China
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Monsoon Floods Sweep Away 18 People and Main Bridge Linking Nepal to China

Monsoon Floods Sweep Away 18 People and Main Bridge Linking Nepal to China

A mountain river flooded by monsoon rains swept away the main bridge connecting Nepal with China on Tuesday, leaving 18 people missing, Nepali authorities said.

Rescue efforts were underway and an army helicopter was able to lift people stranded by the flooding. Police said 95 rescuers were already at the area and more are expected to join in rescue efforts, The Associated Press reported.

The flooding on the Bhotekoshi River destroyed the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi, which is 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Kathmandu.

Several houses and trucks that were parked at the border for customs inspections also were swept away. Hundreds of electric vehicles imported from China had been parked at the border point.

The 18 missing are 12 Nepali citizens and six Chinese nationals, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

The Chinese along with eight Nepalis were workers at a Chinese-assisted construction project on the Nepali side of the border, according to the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, quoted by state media.

The destruction of the bridge has halted all trade from China to Nepal through this route. The longer alternative is for goods to be shipped from China to India and then brought overland to Nepal.

Monsoon rains that begin in June and end in September often cause severe flooding in Nepal, disrupting infrastructure and endangering lives.