11 billion doses of vaccine needed to vaccinate the required 70% of the world’s population
Geneva: Even as the number of new cases of COVID-19 reported to World Health Organization has now declined for 7 weeks in a row, deaths are not falling as quickly. More than 10 thousand people are dying every day and the global decline masks a worrying increase in cases and deaths in many countries.
“The number of deaths reported last week was similar to the previous week,” the WHO stated today (IST). Available evidence suggests new variants have substantially increased transmission globally, which means the risks have increased for people who are not protected, which is most of the world’s population.
“Right now, the virus is moving faster than the global distribution of vaccines…During this press conference alone, more than 420 people will die,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference here.
According to the WHO, the steep increase in Africa is especially concerning because it is the region “with the least access to vaccines, diagnostics and oxygen”. A recent study in the Lancet showed Africa has the highest global mortality rate among critically ill COVID-19 patients, despite having fewer reported cases than most other regions.
The emergence of more transmissible variants means public health and social measures may need to be more stringent and applied for longer, in areas where vaccination rates remain low. To improve the evidence base on the effectiveness of public health and social measures, WHO is collecting data from around the world on which measures are used and the level at which they are applied. “We have also established a new WHO working group, with the support of Norway, to study the impact of public health and social measures during COVID-19 and other health emergencies,” the WHO D-G said.
However, to end the pandemic, at least 70% of the world’s population are required to be vaccinated and to accomplish this goal 11 billion doses of vaccine are needed. The WHO stated there are enough doses of vaccines globally to drive down transmission and save many lives, if they are used in the right places, for the right people.
“The G7 and G20 can make this happen,” Dr. Ghebreyesus said, while welcoming the announcement that G7 countries will donate 870 million vaccine doses, primarily through COVAX. “This is a big help, but we need more, and we need them faster,” he said.
While reiterating that health workers and those most at risk must be given priority over those at low risk,Dr. Ghebreyesus noted that in G7 countries, high vaccination rates have helped to bring cases and deaths from COVID-19 to near record lows.
– global bihari bureau
