The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Monday that the world is “on the verge of a catastrophic moral failure” due to the unequal distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Why it matters: Tedros noted during an executive session that 39 million doses of vaccines were administered in 49 countries with higher incomes, while one country with the lowest income had ‘only 25 doses’.
- This’ my-first ‘approach will ultimately prolong the pandemic, the restrictions needed to curb it, and human and economic suffering,’ he added.
Remarkable: The WHO itself was criticized in an interim report on Monday for being slow to respond to the outbreak after it was first detected in China at the end of 2019, which was also singled out earlier for failures.
- “The global pandemic alert system is not fit for purpose,” reads the preliminary report of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, an independent panel commissioned by the WHO.
- “The WHO is underpowered to do the job.”
What they say: China’s public health measures “could be applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in January,” the panel of experts said in the report, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
- The experts noted that it was unclear why the WHO only met in the third week of January 2020, nor would it be able to declare a public health emergency a week later.
What to look for: A World Health Organization team of researchers is in Wuhan, China, investigating the origins of the pandemic.
- Tedros said its focus is on implementing the global vaccination system COVAX, which begins next month. More than 180 countries have joined the WTO-led scheme.
- He hopes that by the World Health Day on April 7, COVID-19 vaccines will be “administered in every country, as a symbol of hope to overcome the pandemic and inequality that is at the root of so many global health challenges.”