World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Monday that the world is “on the verge of catastrophic moral failure” because of the uneven distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Why it matters: Tedros noted during an executive session that 39 million doses of vaccine were administered in 49 high-income countries, while a low-income nation had “only 25 doses”.
- This “me first” approach will ultimately “prolong the pandemic, the restrictions needed to contain it and human and economic suffering,” he added.
Of importance: WHO itself faced criticism in an interim report on Monday for taking too long to respond to the outbreak after it was first detected in late 2019 in China, which was also singled out for flaws in the beginning.
- “The global pandemic alert system is not suitable for its purpose,” said the preliminary report of the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response, an independent panel commissioned by WHO.
- “WHO has no power to do the job.”
What they are saying: China’s public health measures “could have been applied more vigorously by local and national health officials” in January, said the report’s expert panel, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and the former Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
- Experts noted that it was unclear why WHO did not meet until the third week of January 2020, or why it was unable to agree to declare an Internationally Concerned Public Health Emergency until a week later.
What to watch: A team of researchers from the World Health Organization is in Wuhan, China, investigating the origins of the pandemic.
- Tedros said his focus is on launching the global COVAX vaccine sharing scheme, which is due to start next month. More than 180 countries have signed up to the WHO-led scheme.
- He hopes that by World Health Day on April 7, COVID-19 “vaccines are being administered in all countries, as a symbol of hope for overcoming the pandemic and the inequalities that are at the root of so many global health challenges. . “