WHO chief lambasts vaccine profits, decries hoarding by wealthy nations

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The World Health Organization chief on Jan. 18 lambasted drugmakers’ profits and vaccine inequalities, saying it’s “not right” that younger, healthier adults in wealthy countries get vaccinated against COVID-19 before older people or health care workers in poorer countries and charging that most vaccine makers have targeted locations where “profits are highest.” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus kicked off the WHO’s weeklong executive board meeting — virtually from its headquarters in Geneva — by lamenting that one poor country received a mere 25 vaccine doses while over 39 million doses have been administered in nearly 50 richer nations. “Just 25 doses have been given in one lowest-income country — not 25 million, not 25,000 — just 25. I need to be blunt: The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure,” Tedros said. A WHO spokeswoman identified the country as Guinea. Tedros, an Ethiopian who goes by his first name, nonetheless hailed the scientific achievement behind vaccine rollouts less than a year after the pandemic erupted. (AP) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.