COVID-19: WHO calls growing global vaccine gap 'grotesque', urges countries to share doses

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday sounded an alarm about the widening gap between the wealthier and poorer nations with respect to COVID-19 vaccinations. Calling the vaccine inequity as ‘shocking’ and “becoming more grotesque” day by day, Director-General of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the inequitable distribution of vaccines is a matter of “moral outrage”. He added that the rich nations hoarding vaccines while poorer countries are deprived is a situation both “economically and epidemiologically self-defeating”.  

In his regular live-streamed address, the WHO chief lambasted the countries for not expressing global solidarity to eliminate the virus but instead, he said, were racing against time to vaccinate the whole of their own population. “Countries are now vaccinating low-risk, younger people at the cost of health workers, older people, and other at-risk groups in other countries,” Tedros told reporters. He stated that by vaccinating the healthier, and younger population the rich nations were plunging into a “false sense of security”. More transmissions imply more variants and the imbalance in jabs makes it worse. He warned, “the more variants that emerge, the more likely it is that they will evade vaccines.” 

WHO's Tedros asks to 'share vaccine' 

Saying that the WHO has been working strenuously to find a solution to ramp up production and ensure equitable vaccine distribution, Tedros denounced countries that are equipped with resources but have done “little to avert the crisis.” He expressed “shock” as he appealed to the wealthier nations to “share the vaccine.” Highlighting the importance of eliminating the virus at the same time everywhere in the world, the WHO chief said: ‘If countries won’t share vaccines for the right reasons, we appeal to them to do it out of self-interest.’ WHO furthermore warned that for as long as the coronavirus continued to circulate in financially challenged nations, the deaths will occur and trade and travel will continue to be disrupted, and economic recovery will also be delayed. WHO chief also informed in the live-streamed address that he has been in contact with the CEO of AstraZeneca, manufacturer of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca shots, to discuss ways to increase the jab production. 

(Image Credit: Twitter/@WHO)