To get the corona pandemic under control, rich countries should provide poorer countries with vaccines before vaccinating children. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said so.
Tedros wants countries that are already advanced in vaccinating their populations to give vaccines to Covax, an international program that makes vaccines available to poorer countries. The WHO boss understands why some countries want to vaccinate children and adolescents but urges them to reconsider.
Tedros pointed out that the second year of the pandemic threatens to be much more deadly than the first, with the situation in India, in particular, is very worrying.
According to official figures, more than 4000 people per day have died from Covid-19 in recent days, but that number is probably considerably higher.
But the situation is also dire in countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Egypt, according to Tedros. He says currently, only 0.3 percent of vaccine production goes to lower-income countries. As a result, there are too few doses to vaccinate healthcare workers and hospitals are inundated with people in need of urgent care in many places.
