WHO warns Covid pandemic will drag on into 2022

BoomRadioNG | October 21, 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the Covid pandemic will “go on for a year longer than it needs to” because poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need, .

senior leader at the WHO, Dr Bruce Aylward said it meant the Covid crisis could “easily drag on deep into 2022”.

Less than 5% of Africa’s population have been vaccinated, compared to 40% on most other continents.

Dr Aylward appealed to wealthy countries to give up their places in the queue for vaccines in order that pharmaceutical companies can prioritise the lowest-income countries instead.

He said wealthy countries needed to “stocktake” where they were with their donation commitments made at summits such as the G7 meeting in St Ives this summer.

“I can tell you we’re not on track” he said. “We really need to speed it up or you know what? This pandemic is going to go on for a year longer than it needs to.”

Paul Ayorinde