Of the 39 million doses of the anti-covid vaccine that have already been administered on the planet, only 25 (that is, 0.00006 percent) have been inoculated to people in poor countries criticized Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), who called for fairer distribution.
Therefore, according to Ghebreyesus, the world would face a “catastrophic moral failure”, if rich countries hoard coronavirus vaccines to the detriment of poor nations.
“I MUST BE FRANK. THE WORLD IS ON THE BRINK OF CATASTROPHIC MORAL FAILURE, AND THE PRICE OF THIS FAILURE WILL BE PAID WITH LIVES IN THE WORLD’S POOREST COUNTRIES, ”SAID THE WHO DIRECTOR.
In a speech at the opening of an executive council of this UN body in Geneva, criticized the “selfish” attitude of rich countries and vaccine manufacturers seeking regulatory approval from prosperous countries rather than submitting their data to WHO to obtain a global green light for the use of the vaccine.
The WHO chief, who believes that equitable access to the vaccine worldwide is in danger, said that 39 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have already been administered in at least 49 rich countries.
At the same time, “only 25 doses have been administered in one of the lowest-income countries. Not 25 million, not 25,000, just 25” He lamented.
The WHO and the Alliance for Vaccination (GAVI) have implemented the Covax mechanism to distribute anti-covid vaccines to the poorest countries, but the system suffers from the tendency of rich countries to look to themselves, as well as a lack of funding.
“The recent emergence of highly contagious variants of the coronavirus makes rapid and equitable deployment of vaccines even more important.”Tedros insisted.
“IT WOULD NOT BE FAIR FOR HEALTHY YOUNG ADULTS IN RICH COUNTRIES TO GET VACCINATED BEFORE HEALTH WORKERS AND OLDER PEOPLE IN POORER COUNTRIES CAN GET VACCINATED… THERE WILL BE DOSES FOR EVERYONE, BUT NOW WE MUST ACT AS ONE BIG FAMILY TO GIVE PRIORITY TO THOSE WHO THEY ARE MORE AT RISK, ”HE ADDED.
Despite the inequalities, Tedros assured that It is not too late to reverse the situation, and he asked the international community to “work together so that in the first 100 days of this year the vaccination of health workers and elderly people is underway in all countries ”.
WHO’s goal is to deliver doses to 20% of the population of the countries participating in Covax before the end of the year. The UN agency expects to ship the first vaccines in late January or February.
Since it was detected in China in late December, the new coronavirus has killed more than 2 million people, according to official data, this figure is certainly lower than reality.
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