Poor could be ‘trampled’ in vaccine push

The head of the World Health Organization yesterday warned that the poor risk being "trampled" as wealthy nations roll out Covid-19 vaccines, which he said should be a public good. 

Speaking at a virtual UN summit on the pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world was seeing "light at the end of the tunnel" in the nearly year-long Covid crisis.

"But let me be clear. We simply cannot accept a world in which the poor and marginalized are trampled by the rich and powerful in the stampede for vaccines," Tedros said.

"This is a global crisis and the solutions must be shared equitably as global public goods. Not as private commodities that widen inequalities and become yet another reason some people are left behind," he said.

He also warned that the world has plenty of other challenges, saying: "There is no vaccine for poverty, no vaccine for hunger. There is no vaccine for inequality. There is no vaccine for climate change."

His comment came as global coronavirus infections passed 65 million yesterday and countries doubled down on restrictions, even as plans to roll out vaccines gathered pace.

The pandemic is showing little sign of slowing, with the daily global death toll in recent weeks reaching its highest rate since the virus emerged in China late last year.

The worst affected country is the US with 276,401 deaths, followed by Brazil with 175,270 deaths, India with 139,188, Mexico with 108,173 and the United Kingdom with 60,113.

Britain has become the first Western nation to approve a vaccine for Covid-19, with the United States and other countries expected to follow soon and begin mass immunization drives.

A UN-backed Covax consortium has been set up to provide vaccines equitably around the world.

On Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried countries - without naming any - who rejected facts about the coronavirus pandemic and ignored guidance from the WHO.

Dozens of world leaders have submitted pre-recorded video statements for the two-day meeting.

"From the start, the World Health Organization provided factual information and scientific guidance that should have been the basis for a coordinated global response," Guterres said.

"Unfortunately, many of these recommendations were not followed. And in some situations, there was a rejection of facts and an ignoring of the guidance. And when countries go in their own direction, the virus goes in every direction," he said.

US President Donald Trump cut funding to the WHO earlier this year and announced plans to quit the Geneva-based body over accusations it was a puppet of China, which the WHO denied. The US withdrawal would have taken effect in July next year, but US President-elect Joe Biden has said he will rescind the move.