Vaccine nationalism cannot beat COVID-19: WHO

GBNEWS24 DESK//

The World Health Organisation on Thursday warned against ‘vaccine nationalism,’ saying vaccine-hogging richer countries would not be safe if poor nations remained exposed, reports AFP.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it would be in wealthier nations’ interests to ensure that any vaccines eventually produced to protect against the new coronavirus were shared globally.

“Vaccine nationalism is not good, it will not help us,” Tedros told the Aspen Security Forum in the United States, via video-link from the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva.

“For the world to recover faster, it has to recover together, because it’s a globalised world: the economies are intertwined. Part of the world or a few countries cannot be a safe haven and recover.

“The damage from COVID-19 could be less when those countries who… have the funding commit to this.”

He said the existence of the deadly respiratory disease anywhere put lives and livelihoods at risk everywhere.

“They are not giving charity to others: they are doing it for themselves, because when the rest of the world recovers and opens up, they also benefit.”

Race for the vaccine –

The United Nations health agency also said that multiple different types of vaccines would likely be needed to combat COVID-19.

Twenty-six candidate vaccines are in various stages of being tested on humans, with six having reached Phase 3 wider levels of clinical trials.

“Phase 3 doesn’t mean nearly there,” explained the WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan.