The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) condemned what he called inequality in the global distribution of vaccines at the international group’s board meeting on Monday.
The Associated Press reports the WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus regretted that a poor country, identified as Guinea by a WHO spokesman, had so far received only 25 doses of coronavirus vaccines, while nearly 50 richer countries had already administered about 40 million doses.
“Only 25 doses have been given in one country with the lowest incomes – not 25 million, not 25,000 – just 25. I have to be blunt: the world is on the brink of catastrophic moral failure,” said Tedros.
“It is good that all governments want to prioritize the vaccination of their own health workers and the elderly. But it is not correct that younger, healthier adults in rich countries are more likely to be vaccinated than health workers and older people in poorer countries. There will be enough vaccine for everyone, ”he added.
“Vaccines are the shot in the arm we all need, literally and figuratively,” he said, praising the achievement of creating a vaccine less than a year after the global pandemic erupted.
“But we now face the real danger that, even if vaccines give some hope, they become a new stone in the wall of inequality between the worlds of the haves and have-nots of the world.”
According to Tedros, COVAX, a WHO-backed program that aims to distribute vaccines to all countries on an on-demand basis, has secured 2 billion vaccines from five manufacturers. Deliveries are expected to begin in February.
Tedros denounced vaccine makers for preferring profit to accessibility, saying, “The situation is exacerbated by the fact that most manufacturers have prioritized regulatory approval in wealthy countries, where profits are highest, rather than submit complete files to WHO. “
Last week, the pandemic surpassed 2 million coronavirus-related deaths as multiple new strains emerge worldwide, such as in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Japan.
Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s chief scientist, has warned that COVID-19 guidelines should still be followed this year, even as more vaccines become available.
“It is very important to remind people, both government and individuals, of the responsibilities and measures that we must exercise at least for the rest of this year, because even as vaccines start to protect the most vulnerable, we will not reach every level of population immunity, herd immunity, in 2021, ‘said Swaminathan.