Read more about Covid-19 health emergency could be over this year, says WHO on Business Standard. WHO has slammed the imbalance in COVID-19 vaccination between rich and poor countries as a catastrophic moral failure
The head of emergencies at the World Health Organisation said Tuesday that the worst of the pandemic deaths, hospitalisations and lockdowns could be over this year if huge inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed quickly. Dr Michael Ryan, speaking during a panel discussion on vaccine equity hosted by the World Economic Forum, said we may never end the virus because such pandemic viruses end up becoming part of the ecosystem. But we have a chance to end the public health emergency this year if we do the things that we’ve been talking about, he said. WHO has slammed the imbalance in COVID-19 vaccination between rich and poor countries as a catastrophic moral failure. Fewer than 10% of people in lower-income countries have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Ryan told the virtual gathering of world and business leaders that if vaccines and other tools aren’t shared fairly, the tragedy of the virus, which has so far killed more than 5.5 million people worldwide, would continue. What we need to do is get to low levels of disease incidence with maximum vaccination of our populations, so nobody has to die, Ryan said. The issue is: It’s the death.
