Who Chief - 'covid19 Will Not Be The Last Pandemic'

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, president of the World Health Organization, said the world needs to be better prepared when the next pandemic hits as he called on countries to spend more in public health. "This won't be the last pandemic," Tedros told a news briefing in Geneva, referring to coronavirus that claimed nearly 9 lakh lives worldwide and grew more than 2.7 crore as cases. "History tells us that diseases and pandemics are a part of existence, but the world must be ready when the next pandemic arrives – more ready than it was this time," he said.

The president of the WHO had warned of covid 'vaccine nationalism' earlier, calling on countries around the world to join forces to combat the coronavirus. "In our interconnected world, if people in low- and middle-income countries skip vaccinations, the epidemic will continue to destroy and global economic recovery will be delayed. Therefore, using vaccinations as a global public good is in each and every country's national interest. Vaccine nationalism will extend the pandemic, not shorten it," he said.

Tedros also said that 78 high-income countries have now joined the global vaccine allocation programme "COVAX," taking the total to 170 nations, adding that entering the programme ensured access for those nations to the world's largest vaccine collection. The WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance lead the COVAX centre, which is designed to help purchase and distribute vaccination shots equally around the world. But some nations, including the United States, which have secured their own supplies through bilateral agreements, have said they would not join COVAX.

Gavi is a global Vaccine Alliance, bringing together the public and private sectors with the common aim of ensuring fair access for those living in the world's poorest countries to new and underused vaccines.

 

Source: Telugu2delhi

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