WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday, 14 May, said the Covid-19 pandemic’s second year was on track to be its deadliest, as he urged rich countries to reconsider plans to vaccinate children and instead donate vaccines to the COVAX scheme for poorer countries.
“We’re on track for the second year of this pandemic to be far more deadly than the first,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference, adding: “I understand why some countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents, but right now I urge them to reconsider and to instead donate vaccines to Covax.”
“Because in low and lower-middle-income countries, Covid-19 vaccine supply has not been enough to even immunize healthcare workers, and hospitals are being inundated with people that need lifesaving care urgently.”
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 3.3 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.
In the face of this inequity in access, Tedros warned that the world would likely see more deaths this year than last, despite the arrival of vaccines, Barron reports.
We’re on track for the second year of this pandemic to be far more deadly than the first,” he said.
“Saving lives and livelihoods with a combination of public health measures and vaccination, not one or the other is the only way out.”