UN Secretary General calls for “global vaccination plan” against Covid-19
After the appearance of the new omicron variant of the corona virus, UN Secretary General António Guterres called for a “global vaccination plan”. Only such a vaccination plan could end the pandemic, Guterres said on Tuesday at the start of a virtual meeting of foreign ministers of the group of 77 developing countries and China. He called the fact that there is still a wide gap between rich and poor countries in the vaccine supply “unjust and immoral”.
Although vaccines against the coronavirus had been developed in record time, more people died of Covid-19 this year than in 2020said Guterres. Covid-19 continues to have “devastating effects” in all states. Therefore, “everyone everywhere in the world must have access to vaccines, tests and therapies”.
Guterres recalled the World Health Organization (WHO) goal of “vaccinating 40 percent of the world’s population by the end of the year and 70 percent by the middle of next year”.
According to the UN, twelve middle-income countries, 27 higher-income countries and 71 very high-income countries have so far exceeded the 40 percent mark in their population – but none of the low-income countries. By November 25, 4.15 billion people worldwide had received at least one dose, 3.2 billion had been vaccinated twice. (AFP)
