World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Sunday called for solidarity in advance, amid the talk of corona virus vaccine.
The WHO chief noted that it was natural for the countries to want to protect their own citizens first but, he urged, “we must also use it effectively”. The WHO chief warned, “vaccine nationalism will only prolong the pandemic, “not shorten it”.
The WHO chief also said the only way to recover from the coronavirus pandemic was together and by making sure poorer countries had fair access to a coronavirus vaccine, AFP reported.
In a video address at the opening of the three-day World Health Summit in Berlin, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “It is natural that countries want to protect their own citizens first but if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively. And the best way to do that is to vaccinate some people in all countries rather than all people in some countries.”
“Let me be clear: vaccine nationalism will prolong the pandemic, not shorten it,” he said.
On Sunday, the WHO reported a third straight day of record new infections across the world and urged the countries to take action to curb the spread of coronavirus. The agency’s figures showed that 465,319 cases were declared for Saturday alone, half of them in Europe.
“This is a dangerous moment for many countries in the northern hemisphere as cases spike,” Tedros said, adding, “Again and again we have seen that taking the right actions quickly means the outbreak can be managed.