Wealthy countries need to give more vaccines and follow the US in making doses available immediately to cover a 200 million dose gap caused by Indian supply disruptions and manufacturing delays, a WHO senior adviser said.
WHO is urging wealthy countries to donate their surplus doses to poorer countries instead of giving them to less vulnerable groups, such as children, and they have so far donated 150 million doses via the COVAX sharing scheme.
However, Bruce Aylward said that only a small portion of those doses will be available in the short-term in June, July and August when they can make a difference in slowing the pace of infections in the global pandemic.
Coronavirus pandemic has killed over 3.7 million people and infected over 172 million globally.
