Geneva: One-third of the world’s population remains unvaccinated, including two-thirds of health workers and three-quarters of older adults in low-income countries, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.
"This week, we crossed the tragic milestone of 1 million reported deaths so far this year," Dr Tedros told a press briefing on Thursday.
"We cannot say we are learning to live with COVID-19 when 1 million people have died with COVID-19 this year alone, when we are two-and-a-half years into the pandemic and have all the tools necessary to prevent these deaths," he added.
The United Nations (UN) health agency is continuosly asking all governments to strengthen their efforts to vaccinate all health workers, older people and others at the highest risk, on the way to 70% vaccine coverage for the whole population.
"All countries at all income levels must do more to vaccinate those most at risk, to ensure access to life-saving therapeutics, to continue testing and sequencing, and to set tailored, proportionate policies to limit transmission and save live," Dr Tedros explained.
In January this year, WHO and partners established the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership to accelerate vaccine coverage in the 34 countries that were below 10% coverage – all but six of which are in Africa.
"Just six months later, only 10 countries still have less than 10% coverage, most of which are facing humanitarian emergencies," he stated.
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