WHO COVID-19: Positive Cases Rise, Access to Vaccines Decline

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to claim lives globally, while the outlook for access to vaccines to prevent the disease is becoming increasingly complex, experts warn.

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Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that more than 223 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the infection.

Of these, more than 4.6 million have died of complications associated with the disease, according to the international health organization.

The Americas and Europe continue to be the most affected regions, and among the countries with the highest number of confirmed cases are the United States, India, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Russia. The United States, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Peru report the highest number of deaths.

In this complex epidemiological scenario, a total of 5,352,927,296 anti-Covid-19 doses have been administered as of September 6.

But "only 20 percent of people in low- and lower-middle-income countries have received a first dose of vaccine compared to 80 percent in high- and upper-middle-income countries," says the WHO.

It points out that the global picture of access to vaccines is currently unacceptable and Covax, a multilateral initiative to ensure equitable distribution of these injectables, faces a number of obstacles.

Among the latter are export bans, prioritization of bilateral agreements by manufacturers and countries, ongoing challenges to scale up production by some key producers, and delays in applying for regulatory approval, for example.

WHO insists that the only way to end the pandemic and prevent the emergence of new and rebellious variants of the virus is by working together.