A World Health Organization official said that the Palestinian territories and Tunisia will benefit from the first batch of Corona vaccines provided by the Kovacs initiative, but the poorest countries in the Middle East face a big gap in terms of providing early vaccination.
Rick Brennan, Director of Emergency Operations for the Eastern Mediterranean Region at the World Health Organization, said that the Palestinian territories are expected to receive 37,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, which is produced by Pfizer and Biontec, starting from mid-February through the Kovacs initiative, while it is scheduled to receive Tunisia has 93,600 doses.
Doctors recommend that everyone receive two doses of the vaccine.
The World Health Organization and the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) launched the Kovacs initiative to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.
However, Brennan explained in an interview that there is a "very big gap" between the planned launch of vaccines in rich countries and countries with low income or conflict. The Eastern Mediterranean region of the World Health Organization includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Djibouti, in addition to the countries of the Middle East.
He said in the interview, "Until pharmaceutical companies and rich countries provide full resources to Kovacs, a mechanism that we have created to distribute vaccines to poor countries, those countries will be left behind."
"The availability and funding are not at the level they should be yet. We are suffering from severe deficiencies," he added.
And Brennan added that the delay in providing vaccines to poor countries increases the risk of the spread of mutated strains of the Corona virus, which can spread faster and more difficult to treat.
Comments
Post a Comment