UN chief calls vaccine distribution a 'global emergency'

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that while every country has the duty to protect its own people “no country can afford to neglect the rest of the world.” He called “vaccine nationalism” both a moral and economic failure and said: “We need a global vaccination campaign to deal with a global pandemic.”If Covid-19 continues circulating in the global south, it will inevitably mutate, Guterres on Thursday told a news conference. New variants could be more deadly and more transmissible and threaten the effectiveness of current vaccines, “prolonging or risking to prolong the pandemic significantly.”

He said that the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines a “global emergency,” saying more that 70 million doses have been administered but fewer than 20,000 vaccinations were on the African continent. Research by the International Chamber of Commerce showed that without support to the developing world, “this crisis could cost the global economy up to $9.2 trillion –- almost half, including in the wealthiest countries,’’ the secretary-general said.

Guterres has called upon India to play a major role in the global Corona vaccination campaign. UN Chief termed the vaccine production capacity of India as the best asset the world has today. He said, in India, there is a very high level of production of Indian developed vaccines and India has all the instruments that are necessary to play a major role in making sure that a global vaccination campaign is made possible.UN chief's statement comes as India has gifted over 55 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccine to neighbouring countries. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, India plans to gift vaccines doses to Oman, CARICOM countries, Nicaragua, Pacific Island states. Srivastava said, New Delhi plans to supply 1 crore vaccine doses to Africa and 10 lakh to United Nations health workers under GAVI's (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) COVAX facility.