GENEVA (Reuters) – The world may control the global COVID-19 pandemic in the coming months as long as it distributes the necessary resources equitably, the head of the World Health Organization said on Monday.
Global climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who joined the conference as a virtual guest from Sweden, took a look at “vaccine nationalism” and said it was unethical for countries to rich would prioritize the vaccination of their younger citizens against vulnerable groups in developing countries.
“We have the tools to control this pandemic in a matter of months if we apply them consistently and equitably,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
However, he also expressed concern about the “alarming rate” at which COVID-19 is spreading in those aged 25 to 59 worldwide, possibly due to much more contagious variants.
“It took nine months to reach one million deaths; 4 months to reach 2 million and 3 months to reach 3 million.”
Thunberg said that while one in four people in high-income countries had been vaccinated against COVID-19, only one in 500 people in the poorest countries had been shot.
“Vaccine nationalism is what drives the distribution of vaccines,” he said.
“The only thing that needs to be done morally is to give priority to the most vulnerable people, whether they live in a high-income country or in a low-income country.”
Environmental damage
Thunberg also established a direct link between the pandemic and environmental destruction that he said greatly facilitated the jump of dangerous viruses from animal populations to humans.
“Science shows that we will experience more frequent and devastating pandemics unless we drastically change our ways and means of treating nature … We are creating the ideal conditions for diseases to pass from one animal to another and towards us,” he said. to say.
Thunberg urged young people around the world to get vaccinated if given a chance, even though they are the lowest-risk COVID-19 age group, for “solidarity with people in the (high) risk “.
One of WHO’s leading epidemiologists, Maria van Kerkhove, said in the same report that the latest increase in COVID-19 infections worldwide included increases among age groups that were previously less affected by the pandemic.
“We are seeing an increase in transmission rates in all age groups,” he said, adding that about 5.2 million cases were recorded last week, the highest weekly increase since beginning of the pandemic.
“We are seeing a slight age change in some countries, driven by the social mix,” he added.
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