World Health Organisation Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus.
A year ago, yesterday, fewer than 1 500 cases of COVID-19 had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), including just 23 cases outside China.
That’s according to Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, while warning that reported cases are expected to reach the 100 million mark this week.
“Numbers can make us numb to what they represent – every death is someone’s parent, someone’s partner, someone’s child, someone’s friend. Our response must be twofold: to mourn those we have lost, and to resolve that each one of us will do everything we can to stop transmission and save lives.”
The WHO Chief, who was at the time addressing yesterday’s virtual press briefing, reiterated that vaccines are giving us hope, “which is why every life we lose now is even more tragic”, he stressed.
“I have called for vaccination of health workers and older people to be underway in all countries within the first 100 days of the year. But there is so much we can all do to navigate our way out of this pandemic, while we all wait our turn to be vaccinated: physical distancing, avoiding crowds, masks, hand hygiene, ventilation and more. You might be sick of hearing it; you might be sick of doing it, but this virus is not sick of us. Please, do your part, for yourself, and for others.”
Dr. Ghebreyesus declared that the world stands on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure if it doesn’t deliver equitable access to vaccines. He said that two new studies show that it wouldn’t just be a moral failure, it would be an economic failure. The new report from the International Labour Organization analyses the impact of the pandemic on the global labour market, while the second study, commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce Research Foundation, makes a strong economic case for vaccine equity.
“Vaccine nationalism might serve short-term political goals. But it’s in every nation’s own medium and long-term economic interest to support vaccine equity. Until we end the pandemic everywhere, we won’t end it anywhere.”
“As we speak, rich countries are rolling out vaccines, while the world’s least-developed countries watch and wait. Every day that passes, the divide grows larger between the world’s haves and have nots,” Dr. Ghebreyesus said, adding “The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded all of us that health and economics are closely connected, and that we are all in this together”. (TL)