BRAZZAVILLE, Congo — The World Health Organization hit out on Tuesday
at the "shocking disparity" in access to coronavirus vaccines, with
only four countries in Africa able to meet their inoculation targets so far.
اضافة اعلان
"Globally, 140 countries have
vaccinated at least 10 percent of their
populations," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of an
online meeting of African health ministers.
"But in our continent, only four countries have been able to reach that
target, owing to the shocking disparity in access to vaccines."
The WHO secretary-general said that "the vaccine crisis illustrates the
fundamental weakness at the root of the pandemic: the lack of global solidarity
and sharing."
And that included the sharing of information and data, biological samples,
resources, technology, and tools, he said.
Covax, the global program cosponsored by the WHO that tries to secure
vaccines for nations with less financial clout, has delivered 40 million doses
to African countries, according to WHO Africa regional director, Matshidiso
Moeti.
"This is a small fraction of the doses needed across the continent to
protect people from
severe COVID-19 illness and death," she said.
"We deeply regret the delays and difficulties in keeping to agreements
due to unforeseen factors as the pandemic unfolded. We have indeed learned many
lessons."
Moeti said that the COVID-19 pandemic "presents both an opportunity and
a stark warning of the need to re-think systems that reinforce injustices, and
to invest more in building a healthier, fairer world."
The three-day meeting of the WHO's regional committee for Africa, is also
scheduled to discuss other diseases, such as polio, cervical cancer,
tuberculosis, AIDS, STDs, hepatitis, and meningitis.
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