New York, April 12 (BNA) The number of countries in which 10% or less of the population has been vaccinated has decreased from 34 to 18 since January, the United Nations official leading global vaccination efforts against the Corona virus said, and he called for accelerating progress to end vaccinations. epidemic.
Assistant Secretary-General Ted Chaiban told the UN Security Council that with more than 6 million people dying from COVID-19 and just over a million new coronavirus infections reported to the WHO in the past 24 hours, it is imperative that vaccinations increase in countries. Where it was not possible to raise prices in 2021, the AP reports.
“The next six months are crucial,” he said. “In 2022, we must take the swift action needed to speed up vaccination. The window of opportunity is gradually closing. We risk losing momentum and failing in vaccine justice.”
Globally, Chaiban said more than 11.1 billion doses of vaccines have been administered, 124 out of 194 WHO member countries have vaccinated more than 40% of their population and 51 countries have reached more than 70%.
However, in low-income countries the proportion is only 11%, he said. In the WHO Africa region, 83% of people are still not immunized, and in the Eastern Mediterranean region, including Afghanistan, 51% have not received the first vaccine.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Chaiban, a senior official with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in February to lead the UN team to ensure an effective global response to the pandemic and help close the gap in vaccine availability and distribution. It will also provide financial and technical assistance to overcome vaccine bottlenecks.
Sheiban said the just-ended campaign in Ethiopia had increased vaccination coverage from 4% in January to just over 20%, including in some conflict-affected areas. He said that in the conflict-affected Central African Republic, strong community engagement including focus group discussions, television and radio advertisements with leaders and influencers and youth mobilization had resulted in the vaccination of nearly 19% of the population.
Chaiban told the board he was speaking via video link from Congo where the UN team will meet this week with government officials and key partners “to better address urgent needs and bottlenecks to expand vaccination coverage across this country of nearly 100 million people.”
Dr Esperanza Martinez, Senior Adviser to the Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that vaccinations and other health-related activities are “incredibly difficult to implement” in conflict-affected areas.
“The good news is that as the supply of vaccine doses increases, so does the likelihood of getting vaccines in both arms,” she said.
To achieve this, Martinez said, the Security Council must ensure respect for international humanitarian law that requires the protection of health workers and facilities, and make coronavirus vaccinations part of broader efforts to improve health and strengthen health systems for conflict-affected countries. He said that community participation in immunization activities is key to gaining the public’s trust.
“We’ve seen vaccines expiring on airport corridors in Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan and several other places,” Martinez said. “Some of these vaccines were wasted because they arrived with a very short expiration date, others because health systems in the recipient country were not ready to distribute them.”
To address the huge gap in equality in the field of vaccines, Chaiban of the United Nations urged the Council to continue to support two resolutions it adopted calling for a ceasefire and increased global cooperation to facilitate access to vaccines in key conflict areas.
He urged countries to turn $4.8 billion in pledges at a virtual summit on Friday to help low-income countries boost vaccinations “into tangible support” now.
Chaiban also urged council members to advocate and help ensure unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver vaccine supplies, manage doses, and invest in primary health care “as a key component of future pandemic preparedness.”
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