GENEVA: Coronavirus vaccines remain out of reach in the poorest countries, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a report yesterday, marking the first anniversary of the Covax dose-sharing facility.
“Nearly 900 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but more than 81 per cent have gone to high- or upper middle-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.3pc,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said about the ACT (Access to Covid-19 Tools) Accelerator set up a year ago.
Tedros has repeatedly denounced inequities in vaccine distribution and urged wealthier countries to share excess doses to help inoculate health workers in low-income countries. More than 3m people have died in the pandemic.
Covax, which has shipped 40.5m doses to 118 countries so far, aims to secure two billion doses by the end of 2021.
Covax is seeking to bolster its supplies of vaccines for poor countries from new manufacturers as it aims to mitigate supply problems of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India, its main shot so far.
