The WHO has said it is providing support to the last five countries that have not yet launched their vaccination campaign against Covid-19, as the planet passed the milestone of three billion doses of vaccine administered on Tuesday.
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Immunization has yet to start in Burundi, Eritrea, Haiti, North Korea and Tanzania - the only countries among the 194 member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) not to have started countryside.
"WHO continues to support these countries in their decision-making regarding the start of vaccinations,"
a spokesperson told AFP.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had expressed the wish that each country begin to immunize its health workers and the most vulnerable people in the first 100 days of 2021, a date that was passed in April. However, the rich countries reserving the batches leaving the production lines, some countries wait to be able to administer their first doses.
“We are facing a two-tier pandemic, fueled by inequality,”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.
The Covax system, which aims to guarantee access to vaccines for the poorest countries, has so far provided 89 million doses to 133 participating territories. But the supply of this device has practically dried up this month, according to the WHO, which co-directs the program.
"The world is failing,"
warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros.