'Me First' Approach To Vaccination Hinders Global Economic Recovery - WHO Chief

'Me First' Approach to Vaccination Hinders Global Economic Recovery - WHO Chief

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2021) Global community has to step up equal vaccine distribution efforts as "me-first" approach staggers economic recovery, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, said on Friday.

"Of the 225m vaccine doses that have been administered so far, the vast majority have been in a handful of rich and vaccine-producing countries... A me-first approach might serve short-term political interests, but it is self-defeating and will lead to a protracted recovery, with trade and travel continuing to suffer," the WHO chief said in and interview to the Guardian.

Ghebreyesus stressed that given the chance, the virus would mutate and spread outside the countries still waiting for vaccines, potentially undermining the efficacy of vaccines everywhere and bringing the world to "square one."

According to the WHO director general, the global community should take a multipronged approach, including dose sharing, technology transfer, voluntary licensing, waiving intellectual property rights and introducing flexible trade and drug registration regulations.

"Sharing doses, boosting manufacturing by removing barriers and ensuring that we use data effectively to target left-behind communities is key to ending this crisis," Ghebreyesus was quoted as saying.

To tackle the issue of unequal access to vaccines, WHO called in January upon all countries to work together to ensure vaccination of medical workers and elderly people in all countries within 100 days of the year.

So far the most effective mechanism for ensuring equitable access to the vaccine has been the WHO-backed COVAX project, heavily supported by the G7 countries. Over the past ten days, several countries � Ghana, Ivory Coast and Colombia � have already received first shipments of the vaccine through the program. More countries expect deliveries in the upcoming months.