World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters.
Agence France-Presse via Getty Images Agence France-Presse Fabrice Cofrini
- WHO Director-General Ghebreyesus said The pandemic is still in a “very dangerous stage”.
- This WHO receives Covid Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) program In 2020-21, $17.7 billion in pledges were received.
- More than 3.25 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been injected in at least 216 regions of the world.
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that the World Health Organization is calling for funding for coronavirus vaccines, treatment, diagnosis and equipment, but there is still a $16.8 billion shortfall-almost half of its total demand.
At a time of shortage of funds, the gap in the ability of rich and poor countries to fight the pandemic continues to widen, and access to vaccines is seriously uneven.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned about the gap in access to resources, warning that the pandemic has remained in a “very dangerous phase” in the past 18 months .
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“The countries that are opening up their societies are those that have largely controlled the supply of life-saving personal protective equipment, testing, oxygen, and especially vaccines,” he told a briefing on WHO’s access to the new crown virus on Tuesday. Say. Tool Accelerator (ACT-A) program.
“At the same time, countries that cannot get enough supplies are facing a wave of hospitalizations and deaths.”
ACT-A is an international coordinated program designed to develop, produce, purchase and distribute weapons to combat the pandemic.
It has received USD 17.7 billion pledges for 2020-21, but needs the remaining funds before the end of this year.
According to WHO, approximately US$8.1 billion of the remaining US$16.8 billion is urgently needed.
-Covax shortage-
ACT-A gave birth to the Covax facility, which aims to ensure that poorer countries have access to the final vaccine, fearing that there will be competition for the vaccine.
According to statistics from Agence France-Presse, more than 3.25 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been injected in at least 216 regions of the world.
In countries defined by the World Bank as high-income countries, 84 doses are injected for every 100 residents.
But in the 29 lowest-income countries, only one dose is injected for every 100 residents.
Covax reached the milestone of distributing 100 million doses of vaccine in 135 participating regions on Tuesday.
Sumia Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the WHO, said that by this stage, the number should be between 300 and 400 million.
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The plan expects that as more vaccines enter the plan, the plan will see a surge in doses between the end of September and January 2022, and the plan has so far been almost entirely dependent on AstraZeneca vaccines.
Tan Desai hopes that the proportion of vaccinations in each country will reach 10% by September and 40% by the end of the year.
At the financing meeting on Tuesday, some major vaccine manufacturers made positive voices.
Pfizer Chairman Albert Bourla stated that the company’s goal is to provide 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine to low- and middle-income countries in the next 18 months.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson, said that the first delivery of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine will arrive in Covax countries this week.
