WHO Says Vaccine Inequity Undermines Economic Recovery: It’s ‘a Killer of People and Jobs’
The World Health Organization on Thursday warned the unequal distribution of vaccines around the globe has contributed to the emergence of new Covid variants, such as omicron, that threaten the global economic recovery.
Source: CNBC (link opens in a new window)
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- Coronavirus, Health Care
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- employment, failure
“Vaccine inequity is a killer of people and jobs, and it undermines a global economic recovery,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during an update from the group’s headquarters in Geneva.
Tedros said the inability of world leaders to work together to increase vaccine coverage in poorer nations with less-developed health systems was one of the biggest failures of 2021. Low vaccine coverage in many countries was a major factor in the emergence of variants such as delta and omicron, Tedros said. Delta was first detected in India in late 2020 while omicron was first found by health officials in southern Africa in November.
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