WHO asks rich nations to pay ‘fair share’ of US$16 billion Covid-19 funding gap

Name: WHO says new vaccine to combat Omicron likely needed amid fears variant could infect half of Europe
Uploaded: 2022-02-10T12:46:43.000Z
Duration: 2 min 46 s
Description: WHO says new vaccine to combat Omicron likely needed amid fears variant could infect half of Europe

Without equitable global access to tests and vaccines, coronavirus will continue to spread, evolve and kill, says agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Only six countries met or exceeded last year’s fair share commitments to help low and middle-income nations fight the virus

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, said failing to fund the shortfall would have global ramifications. Photo: AP

Zhuang Pinghui

Published: 8:46pm, 10 Feb 2022

The World Health Organization has called for rich countries to pay their “fair share” of a US$16 billion shortfall to fund tools it says could end the emergency phase of the Covid-19 pandemic this year.

Launching an appeal for funding together with several national leaders on Wednesday, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to close the funding gap to ensure equitable global access to Covid-19 tests, treatments and vaccines.

It came with many wealthy countries gradually easing their Covid-19 restrictions as numbers of cases fall and vaccinations rise.

In the latest weekly epidemiological report released by the WHO on Tuesday, the case counts for January 31 to February 6 fell 17 per cent worldwide from the previous week, including decreases of 50 per cent in the United States, 26 per cent in France and 22 per cent in Germany – the three countries that recorded the most cases that week.

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WHO says new vaccine to combat Omicron likely needed amid fears variant could infect half of Europe

“Depending on where you live, it might feel like the Covid-19 pandemic is almost over – or it might feel like it’s at its worst,” Tedros said as he launched the campaign for urgent funding on Wednesday.