The director general of the World Health Organization spoke of the importance of closing this gap in vaccination
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , the director general of the World Health Organization , reported that not a single dose of the vaccine against the new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) could be administered to approximately one billion people on the African continent.
At the opening of the 10th meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Covid-19 Emergency Committee, Ghebreyesus drew attention to the global inequality and injustice in Covid-19 vaccines.
Noting that barriers such as vaccine nationalism, politicization of the pandemic, and short-term self-interest are driving the evolution and spread of the virus, Ghebreyesus said:
“As a result, many countries are not meeting their basic (vaccine) needs or their modest targets.”
Commenting that more than 9.4 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are currently administered worldwide, Ghebreyesus added: “Yet 90 countries missed the target of vaccinating 40 percent of their populations at the end of last year, and 36 of these countries have not yet vaccinated 10 percent of their populations.
Stating that not even a single dose of the anti-Covid vaccine could be administered to approximately one billion people, which corresponds to 85 percent of the population on the African continent, Ghebreyesus said: “If we cannot close this gap, we cannot end the acute phase of the pandemic”.
The WHO director-general stressed that the urgent priority of countries should be to have the first vaccines for risk groups worldwide that have never been vaccinated, instead of applying a “booster dose”.
Ghebreyesus underscored that while current Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing serious illness and death, they cannot completely prevent transmission.