World: United Nations secretary-general António Guterres once again warning the whole world noted that the war against the deadliest COVID pandemic is not over yet, adding that it can be stretched amid the vaccine inequity among the countries.
UN chief Antonio Guterres, in his statement, cited, “The pandemic’s most tragic toll has been on the health and lives of millions, with more than 446 million cases worldwide, more than six million deaths confirmed, and countless more grappling with worsening mental health.”
“Thanks to the unprecedented public health measures and the extraordinarily rapid development and deployment of vaccines, many parts of the world are bringing the pandemic under control. But it will be a grave – ‘mistake’ to think the COVID pandemic is over”, he then added.
Highlighting the significance of the equal distribution of vaccines, stated that the world is facing a ‘scandalously unequal; dissemination of the COVID-19 vaccines.
He then added that around 1.5 billion doses of vaccines are being produced every month, but still, there are three billion people who are waiting to receive their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“This failure is the direct result of the policy & budgetary decisions that prioritize the health of people in wealthy countries over the health of people in poor countries”, the UN secretary-general underscored in relation to his aforementioned remark.
Two-tiered recovery is a ‘recipe for the more additional variants, more lockdowns and more sorrow & sacrifice in every nation‘, he added.
Concluding his statement, he asked the world leaders to pledge to re-dedicate themselves to put an end to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and close this ‘sad chapter’ in the history of humanity once and for all.
As of March 7, around 64% population of the world has been vaccinated with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, and around 56.6% of the global population is fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, about 18.4% of the total population is fully vaccinated and have also received their booster shots.