The World Health Organisation (WHO) has appealed to rich countries to urgently share 10 million doses to meet the UN target of starting COVID-19 vaccinations in every country within the first 100 days of the year
An elderly person waits to receive a dose of the Sputnik V vaccine at the Victorino Santaella Hospital in Los Teques, Venezuela. Pic/AFP
As many as 60 countries, including some of the world’s poorest, might have to stall their Coronavirus vaccination drive because nearly all deliveries through the global programme intended to help them are blocked until as late as June.
COVAX, the global initiative to provide vaccines to countries lacking the clout to negotiate for scarce supplies on their own, has in the past week shipped more than 25,000 doses to low-income countries, only twice on any given day. Deliveries have all but halted since Monday.
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During the past two weeks, according to data compiled daily by UNICEF, fewer than two million COVAX doses in total were cleared for shipment to 92 countries in the developing world—the same amount injected in Britain alone.
Dr Duncan Nyukuri, an infectious disease physician from Nairobi, says, “If you receive the first dose and you fail to receive the second dose, this does not mean that your body will be any weaker or you will be at an increased risk of getting any infection. What it means is that your body will have developed some immunity against the infection. But this immunity is not as good as somebody who has received both doses.”
Pfizer wants adolescents to get vaccine
New York-based Pfizer and BioNTech SE of Germany have asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the emergency use authorisation for their vaccine to include adolescents ages 12 to 15. Back in mid-December, the two-dose shot received emergency clearance for vaccinating people aged 16 and above. The companies noted in a statement that preliminary results through March 31 from late-stage testing in that age group found the vaccine safe.
13,54,48,051
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS
CASES IN THE WORLD
29,31,707
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE
10,89,93,971
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS
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