Healthcare workers administer the COVID-19 vaccine to residents of the Jackson Heights neighborhood of St. Johns Missionary Baptist Church on January 10, 2021 in Tampa, Florida.
Octavio Jones | Getty Images
LONDON – The head of the World Health Organization said on Monday that the equitable distribution of vaccines against coronavirus is at “serious risk”.
Warning of a “catastrophic moral failure,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “the recent emergence of rapidly spreading variants makes the rapid and equitable launch of vaccines even more important.”
But he added that this distribution could easily become “another brick in the wall for inequality between those who have and those who do not have in the world”.
“As the first vaccines begin to be distributed, the promise of equitable access is at serious risk,” he said, speaking at a session of the WHO executive council.
Although more than 39 million doses of several different vaccines have been administered in at least 49 higher-income countries, he said, only 25 doses have been administered in a lower-income country.
“I have to be frank, the world is on the verge of catastrophic moral failure and the price of that failure will be paid for with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.”
At the beginning of his speech, Tedros emphasized that the development and approval of safe vaccines against the coronavirus less than a year after the virus appeared in China in late 2019, was an “impressive achievement and a much needed source of hope” .
However, he added that “it is not certain that younger, healthier adults in rich countries will be vaccinated before health professionals and the elderly in poorer countries”.
“There will be enough vaccine for everyone, but now we must work together as a global family to prioritize (those) most at risk for serious illness and death in all countries.”
Without citing names, Tedros said that some countries and companies speak the language of equitable access, but continue to prioritize bilateral deals, avoiding COVAX, which is raising prices and trying to jump to the front of the queue. “This is wrong,” he said.
COVAX is a global scheme co-led by an international vaccine alliance called Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and also WHO. It was established to guarantee equitable access to the vaccine for all countries in the world. Its goal is to provide 2 billion doses of safe and effective vaccines that have passed WHO regulatory approval and / or prequalification by the end of 2021.
WHO called on the wealthiest countries that have already ordered millions of doses of vaccines against coronavirus, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Europe, to share a part of these vaccines with COVAX, so that it can redistribute them to the poorest countries.
The wealthiest nations have been accused of “accumulating” more vaccines than they need, although vaccine supply is still in its early days, since mass inoculation initiatives – which began in the West in December – are still in their first stages. of distribution.
Tedros urged countries with bilateral agreements with vaccine manufacturers and supply controls to be “transparent with COVAX in volumes, prices and delivery dates” and to share their own doses with COVAX, once they have vaccinated their own healthcare professionals. health and older populations.