The goal must be for every country to vaccinate 70% of its population by mid-2022, Spokesperson of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tarik Jasarevic told Report.
“We can end the acute phase of the pandemic if we vaccinate populations, starting with those most at risk. There remains a vast gap in rates of vaccination between countries. If we end inequity, we end the pandemic,” he said.
“2021 has been a painful year for many of us. But we cannot allow it to be a wasted year. As we approach a new year, we must all learn the lessons this year taught us,” he noted, adding that 2022 must be the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it must also be the beginning of something else – a new era of solidarity.
Omicron being more transmissible and circulating at the same time as Delta is leading to a tsunami of cases, he noted. This will continue to put immense pressure on lives and livelihoods and exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse.