WHO urges end to bilateral vaccine deals, says poor countries left behind

 

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday there is a “clear problem” that low- and middle-income countries are not yet receiving supplies of COVID-19 vaccines.

While speaking in a news briefing in Geneva, the director-general said that “Rich countries have the majority of the supply,” adding that he urged countries and manufacturers to stop making bilateral deals at the expense of the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility.

According to a report by Reuters, WHO earlier this week said that the COVAX facility had raised $6 billion of the $7 billion that it has sought in 2021 to help finance deliveries to 92 developing nations with limited or no means to buy vaccines on their own.

Until now, wealthier nations including Britain, European Union members, the United States, Switzerland and Israel have been at the front of the queue for vaccine deliveries from companies including Pfizer and partner BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

Cases have been surging in many countries in recent weeks, and Tedros said people needed to comply with restrictions and social distancing rules to check its advance.