Sharjah24 – Reuters: The World Health Organization on Wednesday (September 8) said it was now down to manufacturers and rich countries to deliver pledged COVID-19 vaccine doses to low-income countries to ease global health inequalities.

About 80 percent of the 5.5 billion vaccines doses that have been administered globally went to high- and upper-middle income countries, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing on Wednesday.

WHO has set a target to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40 percent of the population by the end of this year and Tedros said deliveries to poorer nations need to be boosted for this to be achieved.

"Manufacturers have promised to prioritise and low-income countries. We don't want any more promises. We just want the vaccines," Tedros said.

He added vaccine manufacturers had "prioritised or been legally obliged to fulfil bilateral deals with rich countries willing to pay top dollar."

The former Ethiopian foreign minister added rich countries only supplied 15 percent of the billion doses they had pledged to the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility, a global programme providing COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries.

Tedros also called for an extension of the moratorium on booster shots beyond its original September deadline, a move meant to leave more doses available for people in countries with poor access to vaccines.

The comment came as the United States gears up to roll out booster doses, which Israel started administering on July 30.

The Israeli Health Ministry said in August a third dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine could significantly improve protection from infection and serious illness among people aged 60.

Canada, France and Germany have announced booster campaigns.