According to a UN report, released on Monday, The only effective way to defeat the pandemic that has already killed almost three million is if we enable poorer countries to make Covid-19 vaccines.
Furthermore, United Nations has introduced a global campaign called COVAX to get two billion vaccine doses to inoculate around a quarter of the world’s poor by the end of 2021. The report — “How can we vaccinate the world” — reviews the main challenges the campaign faces and suggests five major steps to overcome those challenges.
COVAX communications lead for the World Health Organisation (WHO), Diane Abad-Vergara was also interviewed for this report and said that her agency “supports countries in their efforts to acquire and sustain vaccine production technology and capacity.”
The report stressed the point that richer countries share excess doses. It highlighted that the COVAX campaign often found itself in competition with individual countries doing direct deals with pharmaceutical companies, putting extra pressure on the available supply of COVID-19 vaccines.
Therefore, the UN report added that “At the same time, richer countries may find themselves with an over-supply of doses,” The campaign warned that this ‘me first’ approach would ultimately cost more in saving lives. The report noted that despite the overwhelming evidence that vaccination saved lives, vaccine hesitancy still existed in every country, and “that needs to be constantly addressed.”
“Throughout the pandemic, there has been a huge amount of misinformation swirling around”, said Ms. Abad-Vergara. “WHO is working hard to combat it, as well as building trust in vaccines, and engaging different communities”.
