‘Guarantee access to vaccines’

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is urging leaders attending the 76th session of the United Nations general assembly to guarantee equitable access to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines.
The Covid-19 pandemic claimed the lives of nearly 5 million people around the globe and the virus continued to circulate actively in all regions of the world.
Vaccines are the most critical tool to end the pandemic and save lives and livelihoods.
More than 5.7 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, but 73 per cent of all doses have been administered in 10 countries.
High-income countries administered 61 times more doses per inhabitant than low-income countries.
The longer vaccine inequity persists, the more the virus will keep circulating and evolving, and the longer the social and economic disruption will continue.
The WHO’s targets are to vaccinate 40 per cent of the population of every country by the end of this year, and 70 per cent by the middle of next year.
These targets are achievable if countries and manufacturers make a genuine commitment to vaccine equity.
The WHO called on countries to fulfil their dose-sharing pledges immediately and to swap their near-term vaccine deliveries with Covax and AVAT (African Covid-19 vaccine acquisition task team); the WHO also called on manufacturers to prioritise supplies to Covax and partners, and for countries and manufacturers to facilitate the sharing of technology, know-how and intellectual property to support regional vaccine manufacturing.
Even as countries focus on ending this pandemic, the world should prepare for future pandemics and other health emergencies.
The Covid-19 caught the world – including wealthy nations – unprepared for a pandemic of this speed and scale.
It hit vulnerable populations hard and exacerbated inequalities. – WHO