WHO chief warns of 'catastrophic moral failure' as rich countries dominate vaccine supplies

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The head of the World Health Organization warned Monday that the world is on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” if wealthier nations don’t ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanonom Ghebreysus, who has repeatedly warned richer countries against excluding poorer ones by cutting bilateral deals with vaccine suppliers, took his rhetoric up a notch in his opening remarks at an executive board session.

“I need to be blunt: The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure — and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries,” he said, noting that although 39 million doses have been administered in more than 40 higher-income countries, one poor country has given only 25 doses.

Although Tedros hailed the vaccine rollout as a great scientific achievement, he noted that there are lessons to be learned from past global pandemics when vaccines took a long time to reach developing countries. The current crisis was a chance to “rewrite history,” by ensuring that vaccines are distributed fairly between countries and to those who need them the most.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/who-chief-warns-of-catastrophic-moral-failure-as-rich-countries-dominate-vaccine-supplies/2021/01/18/033644a0-5978-11eb-a849-6f9423a75ffd_story.html

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. The real problem is that billions of doses need to be manufactured,

and that's going to take a lot longer than people understand. Even if there were a perfectly equitable distribution of the vaccine, whatever that might look like, it's probably going to be two or three years before a significant percentage of the world population is vaccinated.