COVID-19 Vaccine: The World Is On The Brink Of A Catastrophic Moral Failure – WHO

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday warned rich countries against hogging COVID-19 vaccine doses while the poorest suffer.

Ghebreyesus blasted vaccine manufacturers for chasing regulatory approvals in wealthy nations rather than seeking global approval.

“I need to be blunt. The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure,” Tedros said. “And the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.”

Countries around the world stepped up their coronavirus vaccine campaigns Monday, with Russia offering jabs to all citizens, while an independent probe found fault with the early response to the pandemic.

Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and Beijing could have acted faster when Covid-19 first surfaced in China a year ago, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response concluded in a report.

It added that countries, where the virus was likely to spread, should have put containment measures in place immediately.

With the global death toll now past two million, many governments are betting on mass vaccination to throttle the pandemic, while tightening lockdown measures at the same time.

– AFP