Amid Omicron threat, WHO urges wealthy countries to avoid hoarding COVID jabs

By Team Newsable | First Published Dec 10, 2021, 10:55 AM IST

The UN health agency's vaccine consultants warned that rushing to stockpile more vaccines, especially without convincing proof that they are required, will aggravate the world's already glaringly unequal access to vaccines.

The World Health Organization stated Thursday that it was unclear if more Covid-19 vaccine doses were required to defend against the new Omicron form and warned wealthier nations to avoid stockpiling the vaccines. The UN health agency's vaccine consultants warned that rushing to stockpile more vaccines, especially without convincing proof that they are required, will aggravate the world's already glaringly unequal access to vaccines.

According to WHO vaccines chief Kate O'Brien, as we approach whatever the Omicron scenario will be, there is a risk that the global supply could revert to high-income nations stockpiling vaccines to safeguard their populations. Her remark came after early data published on Wednesday showed that three doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine were required to offer the same degree of protection against Omicron as two doses did against the first strain.

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O'Brien stated that the WHO was reviewing the findings and that "further dosages may have the advantage to give more protection against Omicron," but emphasised that it was still "very early days." While there was still no indication that additional doses were required to protect against the development of severe Covid illness, many susceptible persons and health professionals in impoverished countries had yet to get a single dosage and are therefore at high risk.

Also Read | WHO says Omicron might alter trajectory of pandemic, urges govt to speed up vaccination

O'Brien noted that the world has just recently begun to address the hazardous inequality in vaccination access, with more donated doses and huge shipments going to neglected nations. She warned that wealthier nations' efforts to stockpile more vaccines for their citizens will simply extend the epidemic and that they must ensure that it continues.

Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization, the omicron coronavirus might change the course of the epidemic. It advised governments to vaccinate children as soon as possible and to have infection-prevention measures in place. During a news conference, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised that Omicron might be avoided becoming a global disaster.

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