WHO Director Denounces ‘Grotesque’ Vaccine Inequity Which Punishes Poor Nations

Speaking yesterday at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) daily press conference in Geneva, WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus once again exposed the widening vaccine gap between rich and poor countries. This is a situation, he said, that is “becoming more grotesque every day,” if the number of vaccines administered in rich countries is compared with those distributed through the UN’s COVAX mechanism, for example. In his remarks yesterday, Dr. Tedros opened by recalling: “In January, I said that the world was on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure unless urgent steps were taken to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines. We have the means to avert this failure, but it’s shocking how little has been done to avert it.”