[ad_1]
The World Health Organization has criticized the “greed” of wealthy countries considering booster vaccinations against COVID-19 while the most vulnerable in other countries have been left exposed to the virus.
In an increasingly exasperated tone, the WHO has said the world will look at itself with shame if it knowingly chooses to leave the world’s weakest at the mercy of the pandemic.
The U.N. health agency also berated vaccine makers for prioritizing third-dose booster agreements over first and second vaccines for totally unvaccinated healthcare workers and older people in countries the poorest.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference that the most frequently asked question was when the pandemic would end.
“We can end it very soon, because we have the tools now,” he said – but for lack of decisive global leadership.
Mr Ghebreyesus said vaccine nationalism “prolongs the agony” and that there is “only one word that can explain this … and greed”.
Deploying booster doses as the virus spreads to other parts of the world was counterproductive, he argued.
Mr. Ghebreyesus insisted, “It doesn’t even make sense. It doesn’t even make sense.”
A woman poses behind a cutout after receiving a Covishield vaccine in India.
PA
“Look back with shame”
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said four countries have announced a recall program and a handful more are considering doing so.
She pointed out that there is currently “no scientific evidence to suggest that boosters are definitely needed.”
Mr. Ghebreyesus has targeted vaccine manufacturers.
He was referring to the program that seeks to provide equitable access to doses for the most vulnerable.
WHO Emergency Director Michael Ryan said that in a crisis, the most beneficial and life-saving choices must be made first.
“We will look back with anger and look back with shame if we do not now decide to use the growing production capacity that is coming online… to protect the most vulnerable,” he said.
Delta variant “leading to catastrophic waves”
Mr Ghebreyesus announced that two other sites manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine under license in Australia and Japan have now received the green light from WHO for emergency use, adding to factories in Europe, India and South Korea who were already producing AZ doses.
“If AstraZeneca does it, why not the others? Ghebreyesus asked, urging manufacturers to let other factories produce their jabs.
AstraZeneca jabs have made up the vast majority of doses provided by Covax so far.
More than 3.35 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been injected in at least 216 territories around the world, according to an AFP tally.
In high-income countries, according to the World Bank classification, 86 doses were injected per 100 inhabitants.
This figure rises to just one dose per 100 in the 29 lowest-income countries.
Mr Ghebreyesus noted that last week marked the fourth consecutive week of increase in COVID-19 cases worldwide, and after 10 weeks of decline, deaths are rising again.
“The Delta variant is circling the world at a breakneck pace,” he said, “leading to catastrophic waves of cases” in countries with low vaccination rates.
The delta has been found in more than 104 countries and is expected to become the dominant variant of COVID-19 circulating around the world soon, Ghebreyesus said.
[ad_2]
Source link