T. Edros Ghebreysus, who participated in a round table at the Forum for Peace in Paris, stressed that “Africa, in particular, is the continent most affected by the uneven distribution” of vaccines against covid-19, with only 5% of its covered population.
The number contrasts with the coverage rates of the G20 member countries, which have already inoculated more than 80% of the anti-covid-19 vaccines administered worldwide.
The Director General of the WHO considered this inequality “reprehensible” from a moral point of view, but also for the epidemiological and economic consequences.
“Something that needs to be fixed,” said Tedros Ghebreysus, who called on governments that have many vaccines to share to reach the goal of 40% coverage of the world population by the end of this year and 70% by mid 2022.
The WHO official warned that if the current trend continues, there will be around 80 countries around the world that won’t reach 40% coverage by the end of 2021.
Ghebreysus pointed out that after several months of the pandemic appearing to be in decline, there is an increase in cases and the incidence and number of deaths has returned to very high, with around 7,000 deaths per day.
“No country will be able, alone, to put an end to this pandemic”, reiterated the WHO head, who also took the opportunity to ask for the generalization of universal health care coverage, which, in his opinion, would, among other things, avoid future epidemics.
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, who participated in the same round table, assured that the European Union (EU) “is fully committed to solving the injustice” of the inequality of access to vaccines in different parts of the world.
Michel said that in recent days, EU members have added 200 million doses to the Covax device, created to ensure the distribution of anti-covid-19 vaccines to the poorest countries.
Source: remonews.com
Angop/NET/CF
