UNITED NATIONS, Jan 18, (Asia Free Press): The Secretary-General of the United Nations Organisation (UNO) Antonio Guterres said the world must vaccinate everyone against COVID-19 to defeat the ongoing pandemic, according to media reports.
The UN Secretary-General made the remarks on Monday in his address to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Davos Agenda, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reported CGTN.
“The last two years have demonstrated a simple but brutal truth — if we leave anyone behind, we leave everyone behind,” said the United Nations Secretary-General.
“If we fail to vaccinate every person, we give rise to new variants that spread across borders and bring daily life and economies to a grinding halt.” Guterres said while also added about the disparity between vaccinations in wealthy countries and those in lower-income nations, “Vaccination rates in high-income countries are, shamefully, seven times higher than in African countries. We need vaccine equity, now”.
“We are nowhere near these targets,” Guterres lastly told in the World Economic Forum.
Last week, the World Health Organization’s Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom, said more than 9.4 billion vaccine doses had been administered globally. Thirty-six countries have, however, not yet vaccinated 10 per cent of their populations, far below the agency’s target of vaccinating at least 40 per cent of their people by the end of 2021. The WHO has also set another target for countries to vaccinate at least 70 per cent of their populations by mid-2022.
