UN health agency, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that COVID-19 has severely affected healthcare staff and may have succumbed between 80,000 and 180,000.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Head of WHO, stated that the healthcare workforces must be prioritized for getting vaccination. He further criticized the unfairness that took place while distributing the vaccines.

Another top-level WHO official cautioned the lack of vaccination drives could result in the continuation of the pandemic into 2022. Reportedly, there are approximately 135 million healthcare workers globally.

Dr. Tedros says that as per the recent data from 119 countries, two of five healthcare employees are completely vaccinated globally. Although, this average makes a huge difference across economic groupings and regions.

He further remarked that 1 in 10 healthcare workers were jabbed in Africa compared to 8 in 10 in the developed countries.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior leader at WHO, highlighted the failure to provide poorer countries with the vaccine. He further said that the COVID crisis could continue until 2022.

Currently, only 5% population of Africa has been vaccinated as compared to 40% of the other continents. The majority of the COVID vaccines have been used in upper-middle-income countries. Africa only accounts for 2.6% of doses administered globally.

According to Naomi Grimley, BBC Global Affairs correspondent, the initial intention behind Covax, the UN-backed global initiative to distribute vaccinations equally, was that all countries, even affluent ones, would be able to get vaccines.

However, after nations began making one-to-one arrangements with pharmaceutical corporations, most G7 countries opted to hold back.

According to recent data provided by the People's Vaccine, just one in seven of the dosages supplied by pharmaceutical corporations and rich countries reach their recipients in poorer countries.

Source Credit - https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58973697