WHO slams COVID-19 vaccine inequity as COVAX marks 1st year

The World Health Organization (WHO) Friday denounced inequality in sharing the COVID-19 vaccine, saying that shots remain out of reach in the poorest countries, as the global health body's COVAX initiative marks the first anniversary.

"Nearly 900 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but over 81% have gone to high- or upper-middle-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.3%," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said about the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator set up a year ago.

Tedros has repeatedly denounced inequities in vaccine distribution and urged wealthier countries to share excess doses to help inoculate health workers in low-income countries. More than 3 million people have died in the pandemic. COVAX, which has shipped 40.5 million doses to 118 countries so far, aims to secure 2 billion doses by the end of 2021.

On Thursday, COVAX, co-run by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance and WHO, said it was seeking to bolster its supplies of vaccines for poor countries from new manufacturers as it aims to mitigate supply problems of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India, its main shot so far.

"Low-income countries test less than 5% as much as high-income countries, and the majority of countries still have trouble accessing sufficient oxygen and dexamethasone," Tedros said.

He was referring to an inexpensive steroid found to help patients suffering severe COVID-19, the only WHO-approved treatment for the disease.

India reported the world's highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day Friday, surpassing 330,000 new cases, as it struggles with a health system overwhelmed by patients and plagued by accidents and lack of medical oxygen.