COVID vaccine: WHO warns of ‘catastrophic failure’

WHO Chief warns by referring to some rich countries

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tadross Adenom Ghebreyes has said that the tendency of COVID-19 vaccines to be given only to their public groups in some countries previously posed a risk to the vaccine’s equitable accessibility.

UN Health Agency chief Ghebreyes addressed the executive board on Monday, saying that the vaccine has brought hope, but this situation has become another brick in the wall of inequality between the rich and the underprivileged in the world.

Tadross said 39 million doses of the Corona virus vaccine have been given so far in at least 49 wealthy countries, while only 25 have been given in a low-income country.

He said that the rapid development of the vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic is extremely helpful, but it is also indicating inequalities.

Tadross said, “I want to say without any doubt that the world is on the verge of a catastrophic moral failure – and the price for this failure will be paid from lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.”
He said that despite speaking the language of equitable accessibility, some countries and companies are trying to prioritize bilateral agreements, moving away from COVAX, which has increased prices and trying to break the queue and come forward is wrong.

Explain that to ensure availability of COVID-19 vaccine in all countries, the global system is the target of ‘COVAX facility’.