WHO welcomes commitments by countries to vaccine equity

AT the halfway point in the World Health Organisation’s 100-day challenge, people and organisations are now uniting under the banner of vaccine equity.
The WHO welcomed the new commitments made by France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States to Covax and the equitable allocation of vaccines.
Backed by 190 countries and economies, Covax is the global mechanism best positioned to deliver vaccines to the world and end the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There is a growing movement behind vaccine equity and I welcome that world leaders are stepping up to the challenge by making new commitments to end this pandemic by sharing doses and increasing funds to Covax,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general.
“This can’t be business as usual and there is an urgent need for countries to share doses and technology, scale up manufacturing and ensure that there is a sustainable supply of vaccines so that everyone, everywhere can receive a vaccine.”
Nearly 7,000 people and hundreds of organisations have signed on to a vaccine equity declaration that directly calls on governments and manufacturers to speed up regulatory processes, boost manufacturing by sharing know-how and technology, and ensure that doses are shared equitably.
There is a specific call to start with all health and care workers, who have been on the frontlines
of this pandemic for more than a year.
Many have signed on to the broad-based movement, which recognises the moral, economic and global security imperative of equitable vaccine distribution.
Heads of states, sports stars, international agencies, including Unicef, UN Development Programme, UN Women and the World Food Programme, sporting organisations such as the International Olympic Committee, World Rugby and FIFA, networks focused on faith, gender and youth, and civil society groups such as the elders, global health council, nursing now, pandemic action network, UHC2030 and women in global health.