Give at least 50% of vaccine doses to Covax programme: WHO

As the countries rush to vaccinate their citizens, some of the poorer countries are struggling to get access to doses of these vaccines to fight the deadly coronavirus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has, therefore, urged all vaccine manufacturers to donate half of their doses to the Covax vaccine programme — which is a worldwide initiative to give proper access to vaccines to poorer countries.

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WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the global vaccine manufacturers are not helping the poor countries, which has resulted in several countries struggling to even immunise their health workers against this deadly virus.

He also pointed out the discrimination the third-world countries have faced by drawing examples between countries that have failed to vaccinate health workers against those nations that are now prepping to vaccinate small children.

Tedros asked countries to set and achieve a target of vaccinating at least 10 per cent of the population by September and 30 per cent by the end of 2021. To achieve this target, nearly 100 million doses will be needed in June and July and at least 250 million doses will be required by the end of September.

To make sure his target can be met, he has urged pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Moderna, SII and others to either give Covax the first refusal on new doses or commit a minimum 50 per cent of their total production to the Covax programme.

"I also call on all manufacturers to give Covax first right of refusal on new volume of COVID-19 vaccines, or to commit 50 percent of their volumes to Covax this year," Tedros said.

He also called on the G7 nations to discuss these targets in their annual summit which is scheduled to take place this weekend.

"I am calling on the G7 not just to commit to sharing doses, but to commit to sharing them in June and July," he said.