WHO begs G7 to step up and combat COVID

WHO begs G7 to step up and combat COVID

GENEVA: The WHO pleaded Monday with the G7 to dig deep and fund the global COVID-19 recovery, warning the crisis cannot be resolved worldwide if they do not step up. The World Health Organization said the Group of Seven industrial powers had the ability to fund the vaccines, tests and treatments needed to conquer the pandemic – and knock down the barriers blocking faster production.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged the G7 to take decisive action at their June 11-13 summit, being hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Cornwall, southwest England. “The G7 countries are the world’s economic and political leaders. They are also home to many of the world’s vaccine producers,” Tedros told a news conference. “We will only solve the vaccine crisis with the leadership of these countries.”

Tedros was backed up by former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who warned the pandemic was becoming a “man-made catastrophe”. The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator program for finding, developing and distributing coronavirus jabs, tests and therapeutics, is $19 billion short of its $22-billion target this year. And a further $35 to $45 billion will be needed next year to ensure most adults around the world get immunized.

Brown, who