The head of the World Health Organization warned that rich nations are slow to share vaccines with low-income countries in order to stop the spread of Covid Delta, putting at risk millions of lives.Director General of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that vaccine sharing was a slow process. This is because variants have emerged after it became clear that the Delta variant has been found in at least 98 countries.As Dame Sarah Gilbert (an Oxford professor who was the leader of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine team) warned, she also called for caution regarding proposals to immunise children in the UK. She told the Observer that we must balance our views on vaccinating children from high-income countries with vaccinating others around the globe because we need to prevent the spread of the virus.We are not out of the woods yet. I am very concerned about the availability of vaccines in other parts of the world. We need to stop the virus from spreading and evolving. This could lead to a new strain that will be very difficult to manage.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus claims that vaccine sharing has slowed down to a trickle. Laurent Gilliron/AP PhotographGhebreyesus stated that world leaders should ensure that at minimum 10% of all people are vaccinated by September 30th to protect vulnerable people and health workers.Ghebreyesus stated that the Delta variant is very dangerous and continues to evolve and mutate. This requires continuous evaluation and careful adjustment of public health responses. Delta has been identified in at least 98 countries and is rapidly spreading in countries with low or high vaccination coverage.He said that the world should share in equal measures protective gear, oxygen and treatments, as well as vaccines. This is the best way slow down the pandemic, save people, and help drive an economic recovery that truly touches the world. It also prevents other dangerous variants from gaining the upper hand.Professor James Naismith of the Rosalind Franklin Institute in Oxford supported this point. The EU will see Delta in a similar fashion to here. They are also being vaccinated at an extremely fast pace, so they are likely to be well past the danger threshold, although it will be difficult for them to get through the summer.With so few people in the developing world being vaccinated, there is a high risk of them becoming uninfected. If the virus Delta is allowed to spread, it will quickly overwhelm healthcare systems. Overwhelming healthcare systems will cause a significant increase in deaths. As oxygen runs out, healthcare professionals lose their jobs and other services are halted. It is important to consider whether vaccination of young children in rich countries is ethically justifiable.He said that 3 billion vaccines had been distributed so far. However, low-income countries still need new manufacturing centers. Moderna, Pfizer, and BioNTech should share their knowledge so we can accelerate the development of new production. We can reduce deadly surges if we build more vaccine hubs and increase global vaccine capacity sooner.The WHO, IMF, World Bank, and World Trade Organization called for urgent action to improve vaccine supply. They asked the G20 group to increase efforts to achieve vaccination targets.Scientists stress the need to vaccinate the entire world as the current vaccines are less effective against Delta than the other variants and Delta is significantly more transmissible.David Bauer, the group leader of the RNA Virus Replication Laboratory, at the Francis Crick Institute said that it was clear from a virology perspective that the Delta variant will replace all other variants. It took eight weeks for Alpha to be displaced in the United Kingdom. Beta is well on its way in South Africa to replace it. You can also see similar exponential trends in America.Everyone should be vaccinated as soon as possible. Then, identify the groups most in need of booster vaccines. The UK missed the deadline. If this variant had been available a month later, we'd be in a different position in terms of getting everyone vaccinated.Everyone needs to be vaccinated immediately. We cannot all be protected until the entire world is. Although it can seem like idealistic, there is no cold-hearted, selfless motivation behind all of this.
