WHO says unvaccinated people ‘die needlessly’ from Covid

World Health Organization officials said on Tuesday that the unvaccinated will “die unnecessarily” from Covid-19, citing global vaccine inequalities as one of the main obstacles to getting more people vaccinated of people against the virus.

Some 56 countries have failed to meet the WHO target of having 10% of their population vaccinated against the virus by the end of September, officials said in a Q&A broadcast live on social media. organization. Increasing access to vaccines would help reduce Covid-related deaths and hospitalizations as the world approaches 5 million coronavirus deaths, said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical officer for Covid-19 .

“Not achieving this goal is heartbreaking, it’s more than heartbreaking, it’s more than frustrating,” she said. “It’s beyond words, I have to say, because if we had used the more than 6 billion vaccines that have been given differently today, we would be in a very, very different situation right now.

She said the data on Covid vaccines very clearly shows that they are safe and effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

“They just need to be accessible” to more people, she said. “The result is people dying needlessly.”

Van Kerkhove’s comments echo those of US health officials who said almost all of the Covid deaths recorded in the country were in unvaccinated patients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on September 10 that unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die from Covid, ten times more likely to require hospitalization for their symptoms, and about 4.5 times more likely to contract the virus. generally.

But with vaccinations stalled in poorer countries and hospitals struggling to keep up with the more transmissible delta variant, Van Kerkhove said vaccines should be prioritized for the most vulnerable and called for continued use. masks and social distancing to mitigate Covid epidemics.

“You can’t play it both ways, where it’s all open and everyone is living and pretending it’s over while your intensive care units are full,” Van Kerkhove said.

WHO opposes the distribution of booster doses of Covid, urging richer countries to distribute their supplies to developing countries with the hope of vaccinating at least 40% of each country by the end of the year. ‘year. Distribution disparities are particularly evident in Africa, where the organization reported on September 30 that only 15 of the continent’s 54 countries have vaccinated 10% or more of their population.

More than two dozen countries on the continent have fully vaccinated 2% or less of their population, while two African countries have yet to receive any vaccines, the agency said.