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A senior World Health Organization official told Reuters that if wealthy countries believe the pandemic is over, they should also assist less developed nations in getting to that point. In an interview, WHO senior advisor Bruce Aylward emphasized that wealthy countries should not delay in addressing COVID-19 as a global issue in order to prevent potential future waves of infection. In recent weeks, both U.S. President Joe Biden and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared that the pandemic was at an end.
It makes me think, “Great, now you can really help us get the rest of the world done,” when I hear them say, “Well, we’re so comfortable here,” said Aylward.
According to Aylward, countries must be prepared and have treatments in place for any additional waves of infection. His organization, which promotes equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests worldwide, is not yet ready to exit the emergency phase of combating the pandemic.
He said, “God, you have blood on your hands if you go to sleep right now and this wave hits us in three months.
Additionally, he emphasized that domestically, Biden had a point because the US has easy access to all COVID tools. He continued, “It has also not scaled back its global commitment to combat COVID.”
Aylward oversees the ACT-Accelerator, a collaboration between the WHO and other global health organizations to provide COVID-19 tools to developing nations. Although the campaign, which includes the COVAX vaccine, has reached billions of people worldwide, it has come under fire for not moving quickly enough. There had been some talk that the effort might come to an end this fall, but Aylward insisted that it was simply shifting its emphasis as the pandemic changed.
The partnership will focus on improving access to test-and-treat, especially with Pfizer’s Paxlovid, and on delivering vaccines to the roughly one-quarter of the world’s elderly and healthcare workers who have yet to receive one, he said.
Since COVID is “here to stay,” and unless systems are put in place, support will collapse once other industrialized nations also believe the pandemic is over, said Aylward, it will also look to the future.
The initiative’s budget already has an $11 billion hole, and the majority of the $5.7 billion in funding it has available has been committed to vaccines rather than diagnostics or therapeutic procedures.
