World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday (September 7) warned that COVID-19 is not the last pandemic and the world must be better prepared for the next pandemic, as he called on countries to invest more in public health to tackle the next pandemic in a better manner.
“This will not be the last pandemic. History teaches us that outbreaks and pandemics are a fact of life. But when the next pandemic comes, the world must be ready – more ready than it was this time,” Tedros said at a press conference in Geneva.
The chief made the statement at a time when the overall number of global coronavirus cases surpassed the 27 million mark and the death toll has jumped to over 882,000.
Meanwhile, a senior WHO adviser has said that the global health body is in talks with India about joining the “COVAX” global vaccine allocation plan. Bruce Aylward told Reuters that,” India is eligible just like other countries in the world to be part of the COVAX facility and discussions are ongoing in that regard”.
Aylward added that the WHO will welcome Indian participation as the country has wide experience with vaccines.
The WHO adviser made the statement days after Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said India’s first vaccine against the coronavirus could hit the market in 2020.
Earlier, the WHO chief had warned against COVID ‘vaccine nationalism’, calling on countries around the world to join forces to tackle the coronavirus.
Tedros had said 78 high-income countries had now joined the “COVAX” global vaccine allocation plan, bringing the total to 170 countries, adding that joining the plan guaranteed those countries access to the world’s largest portfolio of vaccines.
The WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance are leading the COVAX facility, aimed at helping buy and distribute vaccination shots fairly around the world.
But some countries that have secured their own supplies through bilateral deals, including the United States, have said they will not join COVAX.
Gavi is a global Vaccine Alliance, bringing together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for those living in the world’s poorest countries
