Vaccine nationalism puts world on the brink of ‘catastrophic moral failure’: WHO chief

Reuters

GENEVA – The world is on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” by sharing Covid-19 vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization said on Monday, urging countries and manufacturers to distribute doses more fairly in all the world.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the prospects for an equitable distribution were in “grave jeopardy” just as his COVAX vaccine exchange plan was aimed at starting distributing the vaccines next month.

He noted that 44 bilateral agreements were signed last year and at least 12 have already been signed this year.

“This could delay COVAX deliveries and create exactly the scenario that COVAX was designed to avoid, with hoarding, a chaotic market, an uncoordinated response and continued social and economic disruption,” he said.

This “me first” approach leaves the world’s poorest and most vulnerable at risk, he said at the opening of the agency’s annual Executive Board meeting in virtual format.

“Ultimately, these actions will only prolong the pandemic,” he added, urging countries to avoid making the same mistakes made during the H1N1 and HIV pandemics.

The global fight for vaccines has intensified as more infectious virus variants circulate.

Tedros said more than 39 million doses of vaccines had been administered in 49 higher-income countries, while only 25 doses had been administered in a poor country.

A delegate from Burkina Faso, speaking on behalf of the African group, expressed concern at the meeting that some countries had “collected” most of the supplies.

Observers say this board meeting, which runs through next Tuesday, is one of the most important in the more than 70-year history of the UN health agency and could shape its role in global health. long after the pandemic is over.

On the agenda is the reform of the body, as well as its financing system, which was revealed as inadequate after its largest donor, the United States, announced its retirement last year.

“The WHO has to remain relevant and … it has to come out of this crisis more strongly than before,” said Vice President of the WHO Executive Board, Bjoern Kuemmel of Germany, in comments last week.

But he expected resistance from some countries to pressure to boost financial contributions.

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