Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) has criticized what he describes as a ‘shocking imbalance’ in the spread of coronavirus vaccines between rich and poor countries.
“There is a shocking imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines,” BBC Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.
The head of the group said a target to get vaccination programs up and running in each country by Saturday would be missed.
The WHO has long called for a fairer distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. It is the leader of the Covax scheme aimed at getting poorer countries. To date, more than 38 million doses have been delivered under the scheme to about 100 countries.
Covax hopes to deliver more than two billion doses to people in 190 countries in less than a year. In particular, it seeks to ensure that 92 poorer countries have access to vaccines at the same time as affluent countries.
‘On average in high-income countries, almost one in four people has a Covid-19 vaccine. “In low-income countries, it is one in more than 500,” he said.
The Covax scheme is expected to distribute at least 100 million doses worldwide by the end of March, but so far only 38 million pushes have been delivered.
“We hope to catch up during April and May,” Tedros said.
He also criticized countries that sought their own vaccination transactions outside the Covax scheme. “Some countries and companies plan to make their own bilateral donations against vaccines and Covax to circumvent their own political or commercial reasons,” Tedros said.
“These bilateral arrangements run the risk of inflaming the flames of inequality in vaccines,” he added. “The scarcity of supply is the driving force behind vaccine nationalism.”
Earlier this year, Tedros warned that the world was facing a “catastrophic moral failure” due to inequality in vaccines. He said an ‘I-first’ approach would be self-destructive as it would encourage storage and prolong the pandemic.
Source: Telangana Today