WHO warns: Corona pandemic will accompany us well into next year

Fight against virus
WHO warns: That is why the pandemic could last longer than it should

In many western countries, the corona pandemic is felt to be history. The population is almost completely vaccinated, restrictions are being relaxed and life is gradually going back to normal. But appearances are deceptive. The pandemic is far from over – on the contrary: it will even “last a year longer than necessary,” warns the World Health Organization (WHO) according to one BBC report. Dr. Bruce Aylward, epidemiologist and chief advisor at the WHO, said that the corona crisis “could easily drag on well into 2022” because poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need.

While booster shots are being distributed in this country, many people have not yet seen a single syringe. The discrepancy is huge: Less than five percent of the African population is vaccinated, compared to 40 percent on most other continents. At the same time, rich countries are lagging behind on their commitments. Great Britain, for example, has pledged 100 million vaccine doses to needy nations – the island nation has delivered just ten million.

Poorer countries fall by the wayside

In order to avoid such gaps, the Covax vaccine program brought to life. The original idea was that all countries – including wealthy – get vaccines from a common pool. But most of the G7 countries quickly concluded their own deals with pharmaceutical companies in order to get to the cans more quickly.

“The People’s Vaccine“, an alliance of charities, specifically criticized Canada and the UK for sourcing vaccines through the Covax initiative in addition to their national agreements. According to official statistics, the UK received 539,370 doses of Pfizer from the pool earlier in the year, while Canada was just under received a million doses of Astrazeneca. Oxfam Global Health Advisor Rohit Malpani acknowledged that while Canada and the UK are eligible to receive vaccines through this route after paying into the Covax program, he described the route as ” morally unacceptable, “as both states had already received millions of doses through their own bilateral agreements.” They shouldn’t have got those doses from Covax, “he said.” It’s nothing more than ‘take twice’ and means that poor ones Countries that are already at the end of the queue have to wait longer. “

The UK government pointed out that it was one of the first countries to “kick off” Covax in 2020 with a £ 548 million donation. Canada’s government, on the other hand, stressed that it has since stopped using Covax vaccines. The Covax initiative originally had the goal of delivering two billion vaccine doses by the end of this year – but so far only 371 million doses have been distributed.

WHO chief adviser: “really need to speed it up”

Now the WHO has again appealed to the richer countries to give up their places in the vaccine queue so that pharmaceutical companies can prioritize the countries with the lowest incomes instead. The WHO aims for 40 percent of people in all countries to be vaccinated by the end of the year. To do this, however, wealthy countries have to keep their donation pledges. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on the largest economies, the G20, to make new efforts for a fairer distribution of vaccines at their summit in Rome from October 30th.

The WHO had called for no booster vaccinations to be given, except for particularly vulnerable people, while millions of people in poorer countries are waiting for their first vaccination. This request was ignored, however: “Countries with high and middle incomes have now given almost half as many booster vaccinations as were distributed in the total in the countries with low income in the first place,” said Tedros. In contrast, Africa accounts for only 2.6 percent of the doses administered worldwide.

“I can tell you that we are not on the right track,” warned WHO chief adviser Aylward. “We really need to speed it up, or guess what? This pandemic is going to last a year longer than it should.”

Sources:BBC, “WHO“,”The People’s Vaccine“, with DPA

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