Wed | Jul 1, 2026

WHO urges G7 to boost support for COVAX

Published:Monday | June 7, 2021 | 2:25 PM
Healthcare workers prepare doses of the Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 as seniors and those considered high risk for contagion at a vaccination centre set up in the parking lot of the Armed Forces Social Prevision Institute (IPSFA) in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, June 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

GENEVA — The emergencies chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) says COVID-19 vaccination coverage of over 80% percent is needed to significantly lower the chance that an imported coronavirus case could generate new cases or spawn a wider outbreak.

Dr Michael Ryan said that ultimately, “high levels of vaccination coverage are the way out of this pandemic.”

His comments in Geneva to reporters on Monday come as rich nations with access to vaccines are facing pressure from WHO and many global health advocates to share more doses with developing countries that are gravely lacking in access to them.

Britain has been looking at a recent uptick in cases attributed largely to an increase in cases linked to the so-called delta variant, which originally appeared in India -- a former British colony.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, noted that the delta variant is spreading in more than 60 countries, and is more transmissible than the alpha variant - which first emerged in Britain.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.