WHO warns against running out of the Corona vaccine in poor countries

Geneva (ST): The World Health Organization has warned that a large number of poor countries receiving corona virus vaccines through the Global Participation Plan do not have enough doses to continue their vaccination programs.

The BBC quoted the World Health Organization’s chief adviser, Dr. Bruce Aylward, as saying that the Kovacs program provided 90 million doses to 131 countries, but it was not enough to protect the population from a virus that is still spreading around the world.

Dr. Aylward acknowledged that he had briefed the Organization on the extent of this shortage in strong terms and said that many countries participating in Kovacs do not have enough vaccines to be able to continue their programs at the present time.

He warned that more than half of the countries have run out of stocks and are demanding an additional vaccine and as a result some countries have tried to make alternative arrangements to overcome the shortage with dire consequences such as paying a higher value than the market value of the vaccines at a time when the head of the World Health Organization revealed a shocking imbalance in the distribution of vaccines between rich and poor countries.

It is noteworthy that the Kovacs program was established last year to ensure that doses of the Corona virus vaccine are available around the world, so that the richest countries subsidize the costs for poor countries.

Among the countries that have reported running out of vaccines in recent days are Uganda, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Trinidad and Tobago.

K.Q.