US, India, China acquire 60% of Covid vaccines
UNITED NATIONS/BEIJING: Of the two billion Covid-19 vaccine doses distributed globally till now, about 60% have gone to just three countries - the US, India and China, a senior adviser at the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Senior advisor to WHO director-general, Bruce Aylward made the comments at a press briefing on Friday. “This week, we will see over two billion doses… we will probably pass the two billion doses… landmark in terms of the number of doses of the vaccines and new Covid vaccines that have actually been developed. These have been distributed now in over 212 countries,” Aylward said.
“If we look at that two billion doses, over 75% of it has gone to just 10 countries. And in fact three countries - China, the US and India - account for about 60% of those doses,” he said.
He said the 60% of the two billion doses that have gone to China, India and the US are “all domestically procured and used”.
Aylward noted that “at the other end of the spectrum”, only about 0.5% of doses globally have gone to the lowest income countries that account for about 10% of the world’s population.
Sinovac gets emergency use approval for children
China has approved emergency use of Sinovac Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine in people aged between three and 17, its chairman Yin Weidong told state TV on Friday.
Preliminary results from Phase I and II clinical trials showed the vaccine could trigger immune response in three to 17 year-old participants, and most adverse reactions were mild.
US is planning more vaccine donations
The US government plans to provide more vaccine donations in the months ahead and is counting on the authorisation of Astrazeneca doses that are stuck in a safety review, Gayle Smith, the state department’s coordinator for global Covid response and health security, said on Friday.