The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) today called for an end to "vaccine inequity" and criticized restrictions imposed on countries where the new covid-19 variant has been detected, whose transparency should be "compensated, not punished."

Tedros Ghebreyesus, who was speaking during the closing session of the first International Conference on Public Health in Africa, recalled the more than five million lives that covid-19 has claimed and the damage it has left with the people and the world economy. However, he recognized the progress achieved, which allowed, within one year, the existence and distribution of vaccines, in a campaign unprecedented in human history. But on the other hand, he regretted that this distribution is not being equitable, with the African continent remaining at 8% of the vaccinated population.

The head of the WHO thanked South Africa and Botswana for the prompt detection and sequencing of the Omicron variant, for which the South African health authorities gave the alert on November 24. In this regard, he classified the restrictions that these countries have suffered from other states as "unfair".

"I am glad to see that some countries have lifted the restrictions. We need to compensate for transparency and not punish, but our systems do not promote that countries alert others and that has costs," he said.

Ghebreyesus also said that covid-19 revealed that "domestic production should be a national priority," encouraging vaccine manufacturing in Africa.

"More than any other crisis, covid-19 has reminded us that the most precious commodity in the world is health," he said, putting forward a set of priorities such as combining for a better response to the pandemic, investment in research, science, and local manufacturing capacity, and finally, investment in primary health care to make medical care available.

"Health is not a luxury, but is a fundamental human right" and the African continent "must invest in health," he concluded.

Source: Lusa