WHO chief Gebreyesus: vaccine-free poorer countries will be left without booster vaccinations
Photo: Baz Ratner / Reuters
Poor countries may be left without coronavirus vaccines due to booster vaccination campaigns in wealthy countries. World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adanom Ghebreyesus warned at a briefing of a shortage of drugs to supply poor countries
“The vaccine supply situation is improving, at least for the time being. However, a greater focus on booster vaccination by rich countries could again cause shortages in poor countries, ”said the head of WHO.
Ghebreyesus called on leaders of wealthy nations and manufacturers to “learn a lesson and work together to achieve the goal of vaccinating 70 percent of every nation's population” by mid-2022.
Earlier, the director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Hans Kluge, estimated the timing of the spread of the omicron-strain of coronavirus in Europe. In his opinion, this variant of COVID-19 will become dominant in many countries of Europe in the coming weeks, which “will push already loaded healthcare systems closer to the edge of the abyss.”
