WHO adviser urges wealthy international locations to ship vaccines to low-income nations this month to avoid wasting tens of hundreds of lives.
Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has referred to as for a right away airlift of unused COVID jabs to international locations within the world south.
Brown, an adviser to the World Well being Group (WHO), is urgent the leaders of Canada, the European Union, the UK and the US to carry an emergency summit to agree on the airlift forward of the G20 assembly later this month.
He mentioned an airlift of 240 million doses this month might save 100,000 lives.
It could be the primary a part of a plan to switch a billion vaccine doses from wealthy international locations to lower-income international locations over a number of months, a plan he says might forestall “most of the a million COVID-induce deaths projected over the subsequent yr.”
“Whereas vaccines have been pledged for donation from all donors, we’re not getting the vaccines into folks’s arms and urgently want a month-to-month timetable to satisfy our interim targets and stop additional lack of lives,” Brown was quoted as saying by the Observer newspaper.
“An instantaneous emergency airlift of 240 million vaccines this month from the worldwide north to the worldwide south needs to be adopted by the switch of an extra 760 million vaccines transferred by February. If we don’t use the stockpiled vaccines, many – maybe 100 million – will go to waste after they go their use-by dates and expire,” he defined.
Brown mentioned the undertaking would require the navy to mobilise plane and floor assist to hold out the distribution of vaccines to 92 low-income international locations the place vaccination charges are at 5 %.
He mentioned COVAX, a WHO-backed world scheme to obtain free coronavirus jabs for poorer international locations, is one of the best ways to hit WHO’s goal that every one international locations vaccinate no less than 40 % of their populations by yr’s finish.
“Important time to comprise COVID, cease mutations and save lives is being wasted,” Brown mentioned. “It wants our political leaders to step as much as the sign-off. Each passing day is a day misplaced within the battle to comprise COVID and save lives,” he added.
His feedback got here a month after he accused wealthy international locations of committing a “ethical outrage,” by stockpiling vaccine doses whereas poorer international locations battle to get provides.
