WHO warns on COVID vaccine divide between rich and poor nations as cases reach 100 million

WHO’s Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a media briefing on January 25 said that the COVID-19 vaccine divide is worsening between the rich and poor nations as he highlighted that an amount of $26 billion is needed for its programme that aims at speeding up the development and procurement of vaccines. As per a report by the International Labour Organization, 8.8 per cent of global working hours were lost last year. This resulted in a decline in global labour income equivalent to US$ 3.7 trillion.

“The report projects that most countries will recover in the second half of 2021, depending on vaccination rollout. It recommends international support for low and middle-income countries to support vaccine rollout, and to promote economic and employment recovery”, said Tedros during the briefing. Another study by the International Chamber of Commerce Research Foundation makes a strong economic case for vaccine equity. As per the study, vaccine nationalism could cost the global economy up to US$9.2 trillion. He also spoke about the ACT Accelerator programme as he said that it was not charity but “economic common sense". "Vaccine nationalism might serve short-term political goals." He added that it’s in every nation’s own medium and long-term economic interest to support vaccine equity. 

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40 million doses for poorer nations

Earlier, Tedros has said that the WHO’s COVAX scheme has reached an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech for 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccine for poorer countries. Further, assuming WHO clearances, he informed that 150 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered in the first quarter of 2021 under COVAX assuming WHO safety clearances. The WHO secretary-general also said that both announcements together mean that under COVAX initiative the vaccinations will begin delivering in February if the UN health agency can finalise a supply agreement for the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech along with emergency use listing for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine candidate. By the end of this year, the WHO-backed COVAX initiative, he said, is on track to deliver at least two billion doses. 

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(Image Credits: AP)