WHO needs $7.7B to provide vaccines to low-income countries

The World Health Organization (WHO) said there is an urgent need for $7.7 billion to buy vaccines for low-income countries, Report informs referring to the Kommersant newspaper.

According to Bruce Aylward, Senior Advisor to the WHO Director-General, vaccines, as well as ventilators and other medical supplies, will help these countries to confront the Delta strain of COVID.

In addition to the moral side of the issue that people shouldn’t die if some technology already exists, there is a pandemic factor elsewhere, during which one cannot separate one country from another, Assistant Director-General for Drug Access, Vaccines, and Pharmaceuticals Mariangela Simao said during a WHO teleconference on access to vaccines and other drugs.

WHO has set a goal of vaccinating at least 10 percent of the world’s population against COVID by the end of September, 40 percent by the end of the year, and 70 percent by the middle of next year.