The “acute phase” of the Covid-19 pandemic should end during the current year if collective immunity is achieved globally, announced the director-general of the World Health Organization Health (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Friday.
“We expect an end to the acute phase of the pandemic this year, provided that 70% of the world’s population is vaccinated by June or July,” Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in the city. during his visit to South Africa.
Noting that this target is achievable, he signaled that Africa needs to “six-fold the vaccination rate” against the virus to hope to reach 70% vaccination coverage by the end of the first half of 2022.
In addition, Mr. Ghebreyesus recalled that two years after the start of the pandemic, more than 10 billion doses have been administered worldwide.
“The development and approval of several vaccines in record time is an extraordinary scientific triumph,” he said, stressing that the vaccine has undoubtedly saved a very large number of human lives and has enabled several countries to relax restrictions.
“This success has, however, been accompanied by vast inequalities in terms of access to the vaccine by different countries. While more than half of the world’s population is now fully immunized, 84% of the African population has yet to receive any dose,” he said.
These inequalities are due to the fact that vaccine production is concentrated in developed countries, which highlights the importance of building local vaccine production capacity for the African continent, he said.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.