The International Monetary Fund, (IMF), World Bank Group and World Health Organisation (WHO) taskforce on deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, has lamented that unless urgent steps were taken, the world was unlikely to achieve the 2021 target of vaccinating at least 40% of the population in all countries.
The concern came just as the heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organisation and World Trade Organisation met with the Chief Executive Officers of leading vaccine manufacturing companies to discuss strategies to improve access to COVID-19 vaccines, especially, in low and lower middle-income countries and in Africa.
A statement issued Thursday evening by the WHO, said the taskforce has expressed concerns that without urgent steps, the world was unlikely to achieve the end-2021 target of vaccinating at least 40% of the population in all countries.
It said the attainment of the set target was a critical milestone to end the pandemic and for global economic recovery.
The Task Force members noted that, despite adequate total global vaccine production in the aggregate, the doses were not reaching low- and lower middle-income countries in sufficient amounts, resulting in a crisis of vaccine inequity.
The Taskforce, therefore, appealed to countries that have contracted high amounts of vaccine doses, and vaccine manufacturers, to come together in good faith to urgently accelerate COVID-19 vaccine supplies to COVAX and AVAT, two multilateral mechanisms that were crucial for equitable distribution of vaccines.
The team also welcomed the willingness of the CEOs to work collectively with them to end vaccine inequity and their readiness to form a technical working group with the Taskforce to exchange and coordinate information on vaccine production and deliveries.