Many countries not yet have COVID vaccine for medical staff

While many countries have not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine, it is not logical for rich countries to order additional vaccines, he said.

Countries should not be ordering booster shots for their vaccinated populations while other countries have yet to receive COVID-19 vaccines, he reiterated.

Deaths were again rising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the infectious Delta variant was becoming dominant, and many countries had yet to receive enough vaccine doses to protect their health workers, WHO chief emphasized, Reuters reported.

This highly contagious type of ‘Delta’ coronavirus was first identified in India and is now found in other countries. The ‘delta’ strain is spreading rapidly around the world and has exacerbated mortality, he continued.

The global gap in the supply of coronavirus vaccine is very sharp, he said, adding that some countries and regions are ordering millions of doses of extra coronavirus vaccine, while others do not have the equipment to vaccinate their health workers.

Turning to US vaccine production companies, including ‘Pfizer’, he said they should send their doses to COVAX, a system of WHO to provide vaccine to developing countries, "a vaccine-sharing program", mainly for middle-income and poor countries.

His remarks came as WHO was accused of not doing enough to send the vaccine to some parts of the world.

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