By Haruna Gimba
As the COVID-19 vaccines currently in scarce supply, the World Health Organization (WHO) has pressed governments to prioritize inoculation of health workers and older persons, and to share excess doses with other nations.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, who made the call, said more vaccines are being developed, approved and produced, “there will be enough for everyone.”
“But for now, vaccines are a limited resource. We must use them as effectively and as fairly as we can. If we do that, lives will be saved,” he said.
It was learnt that Saturday will mark a year since the UN agency first sounded the alarm over the new coronavirus disease, declaring it a public health emergency of international concern.
COVID-19 cases worldwide have surpassed 100 million, and Dr Tedros said more cases were reported in the past two weeks than during the first six months of the pandemic.
“A year ago, I said the world had a ‘window of opportunity’ to prevent widespread transmission of this new virus. Some countries heeded that call; some did not,” he told journalists.
“Now, vaccines are giving us another window of opportunity to bring the pandemic under control. We must not squander it.”
The pandemic has exposed and exploited inequalities, the WHO chief noted.
“There is now the real danger that the very tools that could help to end the pandemic – vaccines – may exacerbate those same inequalities. Vaccine nationalism might serve short-term political goals. But it’s ultimately short-sighted and self-defeating,” he said.
Tedros underscored again, that the pandemic will not be over until it ends everywhere.
“The world has come to a critical turning point in the pandemic. But it’s also a turning point in history: faced with a common crisis, can nations come together in a common approach?” he added.
He urged governments to vaccinate health workers and older people, and to share excess doses with the COVAX Facility, the global mechanism working to ensure equitable access and distribution, “so other countries can do the same.”
