WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his keynote address at the Tokyo Olympics that the threat was not over and the world was now in the early stages of another wave of infections and deaths.
As Japan moves forward with Olympics 2021, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is a test the world is failing.
The pandemic could have been under control by now, if vaccines that were “to quench the flames of the pandemic” were allocated more evenly, Ghebreyesus said in his keynote address at the 138th International Olympic Committee session.
“Distortion in the manufacture and distribution of vaccines has exposed and exacerbated the grave inequalities that have envisioned human history, and which threaten our future,” he lamented.
“The pandemic is a test. And the world is failing. More than 4 million people have died, and more continue to die. Already this year, the number of deaths has more than doubled last year’s total,” Ghebreyesus he said.
He notes that the global failure to share vaccines, tests and treatments – including oxygen – is fueling a two-track pandemic: Eve is opening up, while the knots are locking up.
Furthermore, even 19 months after the pandemic, and seven months after the first vaccines were approved, only 1 percent of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose, compared with half in high-income countries. More people have got its dose.
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About 75 percent of vaccines have been administered in just 10 countries. Some of the richest countries are now talking about third booster shots for their populations, while health workers, older people, and other vulnerable groups in the rest of the world continue to go without.
“It’s not just a moral outrage, it’s also epidemiologically and economically self-defeating,” Ghebreyesus said.
“The longer this discrepancy persists, the longer the pandemic will drag on, and it will also lead to social and economic upheaval. The longer it takes me to comment, the more than 100 people will lose their lives to COVID-19,” she added.
The WHO chief also reiterated that the threat is not over and the world is now in the early stages of another wave of infections and deaths.
An increase in transmission would lead to more dangerous forms that could potentially be avoided by vaccines.
Ghebreyesus called for a “massive global push to vaccinate at least 10 percent of every country’s population by September, at least 40 percent by the end of the year, and 70 percent by the middle of next year”.
“If we can reach those goals, we can not only end the pandemic, we can restart the global economy as well,” he said.
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