Inequality in the supply of coronavirus vaccines among high- and low-income countries are undermining efforts to combat the pandemic. RBC reports, citing the Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
According to the WHO head, the poorest countries have little or no access to them.
«I need to be blunt: the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure — and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries,» he said.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the vaccines, on the one hand, give hope, on the other, they become another stone in the wall of inequality between the haves and have-nots in the world.
More than 39 million doses of the vaccine are distributed in at least 49 higher income countries.
Only 25 doses ended up in the lowest-income state. Not 25 million, not 25,000, but only 25, he added.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus drew attention to the fact that in the course of distribution of the first batches, the promise of countries to ensure equitable access to the vaccine against COVID-19 is under serious threat. According to him, some states are bypassing COVAX — the Global Fund for Access to Vaccines, raising prices and trying to «jump ahead of the line.»
«There is enough vaccine for everyone. But right now, we must work together as one global family to prioritize those most at risk of serious illness and death in all countries,» the head of WHO added.
