Second year of pandemic would be more dangerous than first: WHO

Richer countries should postpone plans to give Covid vaccines to children and teenagers and instead donate supplies to low-income countries, says the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday called on countries to supply more vaccines to the global fair access scheme Covax.

He stated that the international distribution of Covid vaccines remains very unequal, as the first vaccines were established in December, richer countries have bought up most of the stock and are rushing to vaccinate as many of their population as possible.

The WHO's Dr Tedros said at a virtual conference in Geneva on Friday that he agreed why some nations required to immunise children and teenagers, but he said: "I urge them to reconsider."

"In low- and lower-income countries, the provision of Covid-19 vaccines has not been enough to immunize even health workers, and hospitals are flooded with people in dire need of life-saving care," he said.

Last week, US President Joe Biden outlined plans to launch coronavirus vaccines for 12- to 15-year-olds as soon as possible. He also said he hopes 70% of American adults will receive at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4, when American families are expected to gather to celebrate Independence Day. Meanwhile, Canada has approved the use of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for children between 12 and 15 years of age. The region of Alberta, which has the greatest percentage of viruses in the country, has already started offering the jabs to citizens older than 12. .

In Switzerland, some places started offering Covid vaccinations to 16-year-olds last week.

So far, the US and China have administered the highest number of vaccine doses, with India in third place. But while almost all of Europe and the Americas have started vaccinations, a few countries in Africa have yet to start.

The Covax system was formed with the purpose of vaccinating 20% ​​of the population first in the 92 poorer countries that enrolled, starting with health workers.

The programme is led by the WHO, the Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), with the UN Children's Fund, Unicef, as the main implementation partner.

During Friday's interview, Dr Tedros also stated that the second year of the pandemic would probably be more deadly than the first and that the situation in India is causing great concern.

In India, many health professionals on the front lines treating coronavirus patients are not vaccinated, and some die. The severe dose shortage comes amid a deadly second Covid wave and warnings of an impending third wave.