"TEDROS GHEBREYESUS"

Unequal vaccine distribution self-defeating, World Health Organization Chief tells Economic and Social Council’s Special Ministerial Meeting.

Addressing an ECOSOC Special Ministerial Meeting on a Vaccine for All, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said, “vaccine equity is the challenge of our time. And we are failing.” UNIFEED

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the COVID-19 pandemic is “a long way from over,” but stressed that with a “concerted effort to apply public health measures alongside equitable vaccination, we could bring this pandemic under control in a matter of months.” WHO

Ahead of World Health Day, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that COVID-19 has “exacerbated” inequalities both between and within countries and said, “While we have all undoubtedly been impacted by the pandemic, the poorest and most marginalized have been hit hardest - both in terms of lives and livelihoods lost.” WHO

The international community should work together “towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response” to build a more robust global health architecture that will protect future generations, world leaders said in a commentary published today in several newspapers around the world. WHO

"Continued vaccine inequity is self-defeating, as it could see variants of concern gain the upper hand and slow the global economic recovery," WHO’s chief Dr Tedros said at a joint press conference with the German development minister Dr Muller who called for “a global and united response” to the pandemic.WHO

“Bilateral deals, export bans, vaccine nationalism and vaccine diplomacy have caused distortions in the market, with gross inequities in supply and demand,” the WHO chief, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Friday and asked those “countries with doses of vaccines that have WHO Emergency Use Listing to donate as many doses as they can to help us meet that target.” WHO

World Health Programme (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "the gap between the number of vaccines administered in rich countries, and the number of vaccines administered through COVAX is growing every day and becoming more grotesque every day.” WHO

“We have the tools to control the pandemic, but we can only do it if we use them consistently and equitably. Science, solutions and solidarity remain our guide. There are no short cuts," said WHO’s chief, Dr Tedros at the regular press briefing on Monday in Geneva. WHO

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted that the first COVID-19 vaccinations started in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, an "in addition to those two countries, COVAX has now delivered vaccines in Angola, Cambodia, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Gambia, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Nigeria, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan and Uganda." WHO