Delay child COVID-19 vaccinations and share jabs with low-income countries, says WHO to wealthier nations

• Integrity Education, Delhi
• 15, May 2021

The head of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that Wealthier nations should postpone plans to give COVID-19 vaccines to children and teenagers and instead donate supplies to low-income countries.

Speaking at a virtual conference in Geneva yesterday, Dr Tedros urged countries to supply more vaccines to the global fair-access scheme Covax.

The international distribution of COVID vaccines remains vastly uneven. Since the first vaccines were approved in December, wealthier countries have bought up most of the supply.

 The WHO head added that in low and lower-middle income countries, Covid-19 vaccine supply has not been enough to even immunise healthcare workers, and hospitals are being inundated with people that need lifesaving care urgently.

Last week, US President Joe Biden laid out plans to begin coronavirus vaccine shots for 12- to 15-year-olds as soon as possible. He also expressed hope that 70 percent of US adults would receive at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by 4th July, when American families are expected to come together to mark Independence Day.

Meanwhile, Canada has authorised the use of the Pfizer vaccine against coronavirus for children the age of 12 and 15 years. The province of Alberta, which has the highest rate of the virus in the country, has already started offering the jabs to citizens over the 12 years of age.

In Switzerland, some places began offering COVID vaccination appointments to 16-year-olds last week.

While nearly all of Europe and the Americas have begun vaccination campaigns, a few countries in Africa are still to get started.

The Covax scheme was developed with the aim of first vaccinating 20 percent of the population in the 92 poorer countries that signed up, starting with health worker

Sources : News on AIR