World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has expressed concern over the unavailability of COVID-19 vaccines in low-income countries through the COVAX programme.
"Our world is failing, as the global community we are failing," he told a news conference on Friday. "I mean that attitude has to be a thing of the past," Tedros said. "The problem now is a supply problem, just give us the vaccines."
He further said: "The difference is between the haves and the have nots which is now completely exposing the unfairness of our world - the injustice, the inequality, let's face it."
COVAX, run jointly by the GAVI vaccine alliance and the WHO, was launched in April 2020 to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries.thas delivered 89 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to 132 countries since February, but has faced major supply issues since India suspended vaccine exports when the second wave surged in the country.
Tedros identified the Delta variant as the 'most transmissible' and said it was spreading fast among unvaccinated populations. “Delta is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far, has been identified in at least 85 countries, and is spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations,” he said in Geneva.
In a strong warning, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 Technical Lead at the WHO said the Delta variant is a “dangerous" virus and is more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was itself extremely transmissible across Europe and any country that it entered.
Tedros said this is the reason why WHO has been saying for at least a year that vaccines must be distributed equitably, to protect health workers and the most vulnerable.
-with PTI inputs
