Sharjah24 – AFP: With Covid-19 vaccines on the horizon, the planet's poorest must not be trampled as countries scramble to get their hands on them, the World Health Organization said Monday.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the latest batch of promising results from final-phase candidate vaccine trials showed there was light at the end of the "long dark tunnel" of the coronavirus pandemic.
But he said the world had to ensure they were distributed fairly across the globe.
"Every government rightly wants to do everything it can to protect its people," Tedros told a virtual press conference.
"But there is now a real risk that the poorest and most vulnerable will be trampled in the stampede for vaccines."
AstraZeneca and Oxford University said their prospective vaccine had proved on average 70 percent effective at stopping the virus after trying it on 23,000 people, days after tests of two other candidate vaccines suggested they had more than 90 percent effectiveness.
"With the latest positive news from vaccine trials, the light at the end of this long dark tunnel is growing brighter. There is now real hope that vaccines in combination with other tried and tested public health measures, will help to end the pandemic," said Tedros.
"The significance of this scientific achievement cannot be overstated. No vaccines in history have been developed as rapidly as these. The scientific community has set a new standard for vaccine development."
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