With COVID-19 vaccines currently in scarce supply, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday pressed governments to prioritize inoculation of health workers and older persons and to share excess doses with other nations.
Saturday will mark a year since the UN agency first sounded the alarm over the new coronavirus disease, declaring it a public health emergency of international concern.
COVID-19 cases worldwide have surpassed 100 million, and Tedros said more cases were reported in the past two weeks than during the first six months of the pandemic.
The pandemic has exposed and exploited inequalities, the WHO chief noted. Tedros underscored again, that the pandemic will not be over until it ends everywhere.
“The world has come to a critical turning point in the pandemic”, he said. “But it’s also a turning point in history: faced with a common crisis, can nations come together in a common approach?”
He urged governments to vaccinate health workers and older people, and to share excess doses with the COVAX Facility, the global mechanism working to ensure equitable access and distribution, “so other countries can do the same”.
