GENEVA: According to the recent statement of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the COVID pandemic would remain for a year more than it needed to because poorer countries were deprived of the required number of vaccines.
Dr Bruce Aylward, a senior officer of WHO, said the COVID crisis could 'easily drag on deep into 2022'. According to the statistics, less than 5 per cent of Africa's population have been vaccinated, compared to 40 per cent of other continents.
The European Commission, WHO, and France's Government started COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX), a worldwide initiative, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. From, COVAX all countries would be able to receive vaccines from its provisions, including wealthy ones. But most G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and US) had decided to stay back once they started making their deals with the pharmaceutical companies.
However, the vast majority of COVID vaccines overall have been used in upper-middle-income or high-income countries. Africa accounts for just 2.6 per cent of doses administered globally.
Oxfam and UNAids, the charitable organisations, criticised Canada and the UK for securing vaccines for their populations via COVAX.
Rohit Malpani, Oxfam's Global Health Advisor, said they should not have been acquiring doses from COVAX. It meant that poorer countries who were already at the back of the queue would end up waiting longer, he said.