Tuesday, 5th November 2024

130 countries striving to get COVID-19 vaccine due to "unfair" distribution

The head of the United Nations sharply criticized the "wildly unequal and unfair" distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Thursday, 18th February 2021

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres
United Nations Headquarters: The head of the United Nations sharply criticized the "wildly unequal and unfair" distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, pointing out that only ten countries administered 75 percent of all vaccinations. Antonio Guterres said at a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday that 130 countries had not yet received a single dose of any vaccine. "At this critical moment, the vaccine is tantamount to the greatest moral test before the world community," he said. Guterres called for an urgent global vaccination plan to bring together those who have the power to distribute vaccines fairly - scientists, vaccine manufacturers, and those who can fund the effort - to ensure that all people in each country are vaccinated as soon as possible. word. The Secretary-General further called on the world's leading economic forces in the Group of 20 to set up an emergency task force capable of providing "the pharmaceutical companies and key players in industry and logistics "bring together. Guterres said a meeting of the Group of Seven Top Industrialized Countries on Friday could create momentum to mobilize the necessary financial resources. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, whose country holds the presidency of the Security Council this month, has called on the United Nations' most powerful body to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in conflict zones over the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. to make possible. The UK has said that more than 160 million people are in danger of being eliminated from coronavirus immunizations because they live in countries immersed in conflict and uncertainty, including Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. "Humanitarian organizations and UN agencies need the full support of the Council to carry out the work we are asking to do," said Barbara Woodward, the British Ambassador to the UN.