COVID-19: Poorest must not be 'trampled' in 'stampede for vaccine', says WHO chief

The head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on November 24 said that the poor must not suffer to get the vaccine against the COVID-19 virus. He said that the vaccines must be distributed equitably as he revealed that an amount of $4.3bn is needed to help fund a sharing scheme. He said, “the question is not whether the world can afford to share, it's whether it can afford not to”, as he spoke about WHO tool accelerator which was established in the month of April. 

Taking to Twitter, Tedros wrote, “No vaccines in history have been developed as rapidly as for #COVID19. The scientific community has set a new standard for vaccine development. We must apply the same level of urgency to distribute them fairly. We cannot afford not to #ACTogether & prioritize the vulnerable”. In his speech, Tedros said that ACT has enabled the most fastest, coordinated and successful global effort in the history with the aim of developing vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutic. He further said, "there is now a real risk that the poorest and the most vulnerable will be trampled in the stampede for vaccine". 

Read: COVID-19 Has Had No Impact On Greenhouse Gas Levels That Drive Climate Change, Says WMO

Vaccine candidates' trial results

As of now, four vaccines have come up with good results from their last stage trials. One of them which has been proved to be highly effective is the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. It was recently announced that the vaccine candidate developed by Oxford and AstraZeneca is 70.4 per cent effective against the virus. To this, British Health Secretary Matt said that it is ‘encouraging’. While taking to Twitter, the University of Oxford had said that the interim data show that their vaccine candidate is 70.4 per cent effective and tests on two doses regiments show that it could be 90 per cent. Following the announcement, Hancock said that AstraZeneca, Oxford and medicine regulators would have to study the results to see how best to administer the vaccine once it was found to be safe. 

Read: COVID-19 Vaccine Access To Poorer Nations Worrying, Nothing Has Been Done: Angela Merkel

Meanwhile, the United States based Pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and Moderna, have already declared their vaccine candidates to be 95 per cent and 94 per cent efficient against the virus respectively. However, the Oxford vaccine is said to be relatively cheaper and easier to store and transport to even remote areas of the world. Easier to refrigerate, the Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine will play a significant role in tackling the global health crisis.

Read: COVID-19: Less Than 50,000 Daily New Cases For 16 Days

Also Read: COVID-19: 357 Cases, 10 Deaths In Nagpur; 276 Discharged

(Image Credits: AP/PTI)