The WHO chief said that the 'me-first' approach would be self-defeating because it would push up prices and encourage hoarding.
Raising concerns over some people getting vaccination before vulnerable ones in richer countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that the world faces a "catastrophic moral failure" because of unequal Covid-19 vaccine policies. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was not fair for younger, healthy people in richer nations to get injections before vulnerable people in poorer states, as per a BBC report.
Speaking at a WHO executive board session on Monday, Tedros also censured vaccine manufacturers for chasing regulatory approval in rich countries instead of submitting their data to the WHO for approval of vaccine usage globally.
"I need to be blunt: the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure - and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world's poorest countries," he said.
The WHO chief added that the 'me-first' approach would be self-defeating because it would push up prices and encourage hoarding.
"Ultimately, these actions will only prolong the pandemic, the restrictions needed to contain it, and human and economic suffering," he said, adding that over 39 million vaccine doses had been given in 49 richer states - but one poor nation had only 25 doses.
Meanwhile, both China and the WHO have been criticised for not acting in time to control the spread of the coronavirus.
An independent panel commissioned by the WHO said the UN public health body should have declared an international emergency earlier, and also rapped China for not taking public health measures sooner.
In its second report, IPPR has said that initially some steps could have been taken to prevent the virus from spreading. According to the investigation team, the outbreak was largely hidden, due to which the virus was spread to the whole world.
It is clear from this report that China alone is not guilty of pushing the world into the COVID-19 crisis, the WHO has also indirectly participated in it. Investigators say that due to hiding the pandemic, it spread worldwide. Studies on early cases indicate that steps could have been taken to prevent this.
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