WHO urges countries to stop 'vaccine nationalism'

The World Health Organization is urging countries to stop putting their own interests ahead of the common goal in the race for a vaccine to combat Covid-19.

Countries’ concerns about ensuring supplies for a possible vaccine is making matters worse, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.

“(Acting) strategically and globally is actually in each country’s national interest - no one is safe until everyone is safe,” he told a virtual briefing calling for an end to “vaccine nationalism”.

He also said he had sent a letter to all WHO members asking them to join the multilateral COVAX vaccine effort.

The ongoing pandemic has now affected over 21.9m people and killed 772.647, according to the Reuters tally.

There are four potential vaccines for the virus from different pharmaceutical companies around the world that are moving to human trials.

Many of the countries that managed to get the virus outbreak out of control are now experiencing a second wave after lockdown measures were eased.

The World Health Organization said recently it was concerned that the novel coronavirus spread was being driven by people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, many of which were unaware they were infected, posing a danger to vulnerable groups.

"The epidemic is changing," WHO Western Pacific regional director, Takeshi Kasai, told the virtual briefing on Tuesday. "People in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are increasingly driving the spread. Many are unaware they are infected."

"This increases the risk of spillovers to the more vulnerable."