WHO: Lowest-Income Nations Got Only 25 Doses of COVID Vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the lowest-income countries are the most affected by inequity in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine. Only 25 out of the 39 million doses applied in the world have gone to those nations.

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"The world is on the verge of a catastrophic moral failure, and the price of that failure will be paid with lives and jobs in the poorest countries," the official remarked. 

"It's right that all governments want to prioritize vaccinating their health workers and older people first, but it's not right that younger, healthier adults in rich countries are vaccinated before health workers and older people in poorer countries," added.

According to the WHO, Guinea is the only country in the world that has received 25 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, representing 0,00006 percent of all vaccines administered thus far. Last week the WHO director for Europe reported that 95 percent of the doses were applied in only ten countries.

The organization has called on governments not to purchase the COVID-19 vaccine outside of the COVAX facility since it can deepen the difficulties for lowest-income nations to immunize their populations. The WHO announced that it would begin the distribution of the vaccines via its COVAX scheme.