WHO chief lambasts vaccine profits, decries hoarding by wealthy nations

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.