WHO denounces vaccine nationalism as global death toll passes 4 million

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday denounced “morally indefensible” vaccine nationalism as the world passes 4 million COVID-19 deaths.

“We have just passed the tragic milestone of 4 million recorded COVID-19 deaths, which likely underestimates the overall toll,” he said at a press conference.

Context: But while the death toll climbs, countries are not sharing the pain equally. Wealthier countries, including the United States, have much greater access to vaccines than many lower-income countries.

Tedros said this disparity is not only morally wrong but also hinders the fight against the virus by potentially allowing new, more dangerous variants to form as the virus circulates.

“Vaccine nationalism, where a handful of nations have taken the lion’s share, is morally indefensible and an ineffective public health strategy against a respiratory virus that is mutating quickly and becoming increasingly effective at moving from human-to-human,” Tedros said. “At this stage in the pandemic, the fact that millions of health and care workers have still not been vaccinated is abhorrent.”