The World Health Organization (WHO) continues its call to address vaccine inequity in hopes to end the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his speech on Tuesday evening (September 14), lamented that of the more than 5.7 billion doses that have been administered globally, only less than 2% have been administered in Africa.
He said that Africa has been left behind when it comes to vaccine rollout.
“There are countries with less than two percent vaccination coverage, most of them in Africa, who are not even getting their first and second dose,” Tedros said.
Dr. Tedros said the lack of vaccines in Africa has a global impact that should be addressed.
“The longer vaccine inequity persists. The more the virus will keep circulating and changing, the longer the social and economic disruption will continue, and the higher the chances that more variants will emerge that render vaccines less effective,” he said.
The WHO calls on vaccine manufacturers to prioritize COVAX and the African COVID-19 Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVAT). It also calls on countries that have already achieved high coverage levels to swap their near-term vaccine deliveries with COVAX and AVAT.
The organization’s global targets are to support every country to vaccinate at least 40% of its population by the end of this year, and 70% of the world’s population by the middle of next year. AAC
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