WHO chief Tedros calls on G20 to end vaccination crisis

The G20 nations have it in their power to prevent the deadly pandemic from raging further and to avoid future pandemics, according to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“How many more will die, in this and future epidemics? The answer is in your hands?” Tedros said on Saturday at a talk about health during the G20 summit in Rome.

He called on politicians to put a stop to the vaccination crisis by addressing the shortage of doses in poorer countries.

So far, 7 billion vaccine doses have been administered so far, he said, but only 0.4 per cent of them in low-income countries, while G20 countries had benefited from 80 per cent of jabs.

“We understand and support every government’s responsibility to protect its own people,” Tedros said. “But vaccine equity is not charity; it’s in every country’s best interests.”

He called on the G20 to quickly supply the vaccine donations that have been pledged and to support vaccine production in Africa.