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WHO's Tedros urges countries and drug makers to get more vaccine to poorer countries

Reuters
Geneva, SwitzerlandUpdated: May 27, 2021, 11:13 PM IST
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WHO warns against vaccine hoarding Photograph:(Reuters)

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He urged countries to donate vaccine doses to the COVAX mechanism to inoculate 10 per cent of populations of all countries by September

The COVID-19 pandemic is being perpetuated by a "scandalous inequity" in vaccine distribution, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, addressing its annual ministerial assembly, urged countries to donate vaccine doses to the COVAX mechanism to inoculate 10 per cent of populations of all countries by September, and 30 per cent by year-end.

Tedros also called on vaccine manufacturers to give COVAX the first right of refusal on new volumes of vaccines or to commit 50 per cent of their volumes to COVAX this year.