Prognosis
WHO Chief Says Political Will Missing for Equitable Vaccination
- Lack of use of WTO IP waivers is ‘elephant in the room’
- About 40% of shots have gone to weathly nations, tracker shows
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A lack of political will and weak global solidarity are the “mother of all bottlenecks” to ensuring an equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to low-income countries, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Countries should waive intellectual-property protections around their Covid-19 vaccines to make the shots more accessible, he said Friday in an online discussion hosted by the World Bank. The provisions in the World Trade Organization’s rules around IP were meant to waive IP protections during emergencies.