COVID-19 vaccination should not be 'some kind of nationalistic footrace', urges WHO

As countries across the globe are ramping up their COVID-19 vaccination plans with some of them already starting the first doses, a senior official at the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that it is ‘not a game’ and called for the nations to avoid ‘some kind of nationalistic footrace’. While answering a question during a press conference, WHO DIrector of Emergencies, Dr Mike Ryan on December 18 urged the countries to not turn COVID-19 immunisation into a race with some nations winning and others losing. Warning against comparing national approaches in a competitive fashion, Ryan called for patience, tolerance as well as solidarity.

“I don’t think we should be seeing this as a game of winners and losers right now. We’re at the beginning”, said Ryan during the regular WHO press briefing from Geneva. 

“I think it could be very destructive for us all to turn this into some kind of nationalistic footrace to who does what. We all have to get there together. We simply have to finish this race in a line together. And someone getting there first doesn’t necessarily help everybody else.” 

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Ryan noted deciding factors for nations

Since the question that Ryan was asked during the regular press conference was about public concern over governments attempting to acquire certain COVID-19 vaccine candidates over the others, the WHO Director for Emergencies explained that there several properties that make some vaccines more suitable for certain settings that further influences the decision-making of governments. 

“They have been looking at prices, the profile of the product, the production capacity of the product, and their access to it because of that”, he said. 

Meanwhile, on December 18, the United Nations (UN) health agency, announced that nearly two billion doses of current and candidate COVID-19 vaccines have been secured through the WHO-backed COVAX Facility which is a global partnership working to ensure equitable access for all nations. WHO also noted that even though the existing vaccines are limited and are also expensive, there are “many more are under development, including groundbreaking jabs that combine treatment for influenza or measles”.

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