World Health Organization criticises Europe's 'unacceptably slow' COVID-19 vaccine rollout

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 31 criticised the rollout of coronavirus vaccine in Europe and said that it is being “unacceptably slow”. According to a press release, WHO director for Europe Hans Kluge said that the situation in the region is more worrying than it has been for several months. The organization also went on to warn that the virus’ rapid spread at present could increase the risk of new concerning variants developing in the continent and further added that the slow vaccination programme in Europe was “prolonging the pandemic”. 

In a statement, Kluge said, “Vaccines present our best way out of this pandemic... However, the rollout of these vaccines is unacceptably slow”. 

He added, “We must speed up the process by ramping up manufacturing, reducing barriers to administering vaccines, and using every single vial we have in stock, now”. 

The WHO noted that the weekly number of new cases in Europe had dipped to under one million just over a month ago. It said that last week saw the increasing transmission of COVID-19 in the majority of countries in the WHO European region, with 1.6 million new cases. It added that the total number of deaths in Europe is “fast approaching” one million and the total number of cases about to surpass 45 million. 

‘Curbing transmission is crucial’ 

The organization warned of the risks of greater spread associated with increased mobility and the number of gatherings over the forthcoming religious holidays of Passover, Easter and Ramadan. WHO Europe's regional emergency director, Dorit Nitzan also noted that the likelihood of new variants of concern occurring increases with the rate at which the virus is replicating and spreading. He added that, therefore, curbing transmission through basic disease control actions is crucial. 

It is worth noting that only ten per cent of the nearly 900 million people in the region have had a single dose of coronavirus vaccine, according to BBC. Amid the increasing number of infections, some 27 countries of the more than 50 included in the WHO Europe region have implemented partial or full coronavirus lockdown. However, the WHO said that although so-called lockdowns should be avoided by timely and targeted public health interventions, they should be used when the disease overstretches the ability of health services to care for patients adequately and to accelerate the readiness of local and national public health systems.

(Image: AP)