‘Vaccine disparity is giving variants a free pass to run wild,’ says Antonio Guterres
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the world on Thursday, December 16, 2021, to make “concrete” progress toward the goal of immunizing 40 percent of the global population in a matter of days. COVID-19 before the end of the year.
Read also: Omicron slow to infect lungs, says study
“The vaccine disparity is giving variants a free pass to run wild,” Mr Guterres – working from home because of exposure to the coronavirus – told reporters by videoconference as the country grapples with the spread of the virus. omicron type,
“The strategy of vaccine hoarding, the strategy of vaccine nationalism or the strategy of vaccine diplomacy has failed. This new version has demonstrated this failure,” said Mr. Guterres, who last week came into contact with someone who tested positive for the virus; It is not clear which version. Mr Guterres has since tested negative but said he remains in isolation until the end of this week.
Read also: WHO warns Omicron fears may freeze new vaccines
Scientists have long warned that patchy vaccinations increase the risk of worrying coronavirus variants emerging. This is because the more the virus spreads, the more likely it is to mutate.
While there are many unknowns about the new Omicron variant, the World Health Organization says it is spreading faster than any other variant to date.
Mr Guterres said that in less than two weeks, 98 countries are yet to meet the WHO’s 40%-vaccination target. Forty countries have not vaccinated even 10%.
“All countries, especially those that have the capacity to responsibilities, must take concrete action in the coming days to make more progress” toward the year-end goal, Mr Uteras said. He said he needed to be “more ambitious” in moving towards the WHO’s next benchmark: vaccinating 70% of the world by the middle of next year.
Gavi, the head of the Vaccine Coalition, which is pushing for developing countries to get COVID-19 vaccines, said early on Tuesday that Omicron fears wealthy countries will be withdrawing donations for public-private partnerships. are inspired to. who is the principal manager of the United Nations-backed COVAX programme.
Roughly 10 billion vaccine doses have been distributed around the world, most of which have been given to wealthy countries. COVAX has delivered just over 700 million.
It initially aimed to deliver 2 billion doses by the end of this year, but in September the target was lowered to 1.4 billion.
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