WHO calls on wealthier countries to stand back on vaccine supplies

Agencies | Berlin

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on wealthier countries to stand back on coronavirus vaccine supplies for the benefit of needier countries.

"The pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Sunday evening at the World Health Summit in Berlin, according to Deutsche press agency (dpa).

With almost 50,000 deaths per week, the pandemic is far from over, he said.

Tedros recalled the WHO target of at least 40 per cent of the population in every country to be vaccinated by the end of the year.

"That target is reachable," Tedros stressed.

He thanked Germany for its generosity but said more was needed. Countries that have already achieved a vaccination rate of at least 40 per cent - including all G20 countries - should let the UN vaccination programme COVAX or the African initiative AVAT take the lead in supplying vaccines, he said.

"No country can end the pandemic in isolation from the rest of the world," Tedros warned.

According to German Health Minister Jens Spahn, Germany is the second-largest donor within the ACT-A anti-pandemic cooperation, which also includes COVAX.

So far, the country, with 66.2 per cent of its population fully vaccinated, has contributed with 2.2 billion euros (2.56 billion dollars), and by the end of the year, more than 100 million doses of vaccine are to be donated.

The World Health Summit in Berlin started on Sunday and will continue until Tuesday, also in a digital format. It deals, among other things, with lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic.