The world is facing a “catastrophic moral failure” with the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines – with rich countries gaining more access because they generate greater profits, a global health leader accused on Monday.
Although nations like the United States report the distribution of more than 31 million doses to residents so far, the poorest countries have received a paltry number of immunizations – and that is simply “not right,” said the director general of the World Health Organization. , Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Only 25 doses were given in a lower-income country – not 25 million, not 25,000, just 25, ” said Tedros, who goes by his first name.
The WHO chief did not disclose the name of the country, but an agency spokeswoman later said it was Guinea in West Africa.
“I have to be frank: the world is on the verge of catastrophic moral failure,” said Tedros of the current global vaccination effort.
“It is true that all governments want to prioritize the vaccination of their own health professionals and the elderly first. But it is not certain that younger, healthier adults in wealthy countries will be vaccinated before health professionals and the elderly in poorer countries. There will be enough vaccine for everyone, ”he said at the opening of the agency’s annual executive board meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Now we face the real danger that, even though vaccines bring hope to some, they will become yet another brick in the wall of inequality between the worlds of those who have and those who do not,” said Tedros.
He said that a big problem is that vaccine manufacturers are going through the government approval process in rich countries first, because that is where the money must be made.
“This approach I first not only leaves the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world at risk, but it is also self-destructive,” insisted the WHO chief, according to the BBC.
“Ultimately, these actions will only prolong the pandemic, prolong our pain, the restrictions needed to contain it and human and economic suffering. ”
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