COVID-19: WHO says 'real hope' for vaccine 'cannot be overstated', backs fair distribution

On vember 24, World Health Organisation Director-General stated, that positive results from vaccine trials were a “light at end of this long, dark tunnel” but significance of scientific achievement “cant be overstated”. At a press briefing, Director-General Tedros ham Ghebreyesus stressed that while nations have set “a new standard for vaccine development”, re’s a need for international community to “set a new standard for access” as well. Tedros emphasized challenges of distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to world population, an integral part to end COVID-19 pandemic. 

Furr ting that vaccine h been developed as rapidly, and citing fears that wealthiest countries might yield to se resources leaving poorest and most vulnerable countries behind, Tedros said, poor nations might get “trampled in stampede for vaccines.” He ded, “ urgency with which vaccines have been developed must be matched by same urgency to distribute m fairly”. Furrmore, Tedros asserted that US $4.3 billion in funding in 2020, and ditional US $23.8 billion next year was urgently needed for  mass procurement and distribution of vaccines globally.

" International Monetary Fund estimates that if medical solutions can be me available faster and more widely," WHO chief said, ding, "this could le to a cumulative increase in global income of almost US $9 trillion by end of 2025."

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Meanwhile, Tedros stressed that WHO and its partners established Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator in month of April for fair distribution of se vaccines to developing nations. “ ACT Accelerator has supported fastest, most coordinated and successful global effort in history to develop vaccines, diagstics, and rapeutics”, WHO chief said. WHO director general’s remarks came after Oxford’s AstraZeneca anunced that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine has proven to be 70 percent effective on an aver, following Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccine anuncements earlier this month.

Comparatively 'cheaper' 

In a press release, AstraZeneca presented results from 23,000 participants in its Phase 3 trial that turned back positive news. pharmaceutical giant conducted vaccine trials in collaboration with University of Oxford, UK. While AstraZeneca vaccine may be less effective, candidate is comparatively cheaper than Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech consortium’s mRNA vaccines that have proven 95 percent efficacy. 

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