USE IT... OR LOSE IT
■ 80% OF EU’S 6.1m ASTRAZENECA JABS ARE STILL SITTING UNUSED IN STOCKPILES ■ AS 130 POORER COUNTRIES WAITING TO RECEIVE JUST ONE DOSE, SAY CHARITIES ■ MORE THAN 20m HAVE NOW HAD THEIR FIRST VACCINE IN UK AS DEATHS PLUNGE
EU COUNTRIES sitting on 4.85million unused Covid vaccine doses have been told to use them – or give them to poorer nations so they are not wasted.
Four out of five jabs are sitting in fridges – while 130 other countries are yet to receive a single dose.
‘Unless that rate rises, all new supply should be reallocated to low income countries,’ European Institute policy group director Prof Adam
Tooze said. ‘We need to get shots in people’s arms. Unused shots equal a crime.’
As Britain confirmed more than 20million doses had been given, senior German scientist Carsel
Watzl urged chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) to take the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab on TV to boost public faith
in its efficacy and said the country should rethink its policy of not giving the vaccine to over-6 s.
France – whose president Emmanuel Macron called the jab ‘quasi-ineffective’ on older people – has also advised against it for over-6 s despite World Health Organization regulators declaring it safe for all. Reports yesterday also revealed a single dose of it – or the Pfizer/BIONTECH vaccine – cuts the chance of going to hospital by more than 90 per cent.
The EU’s slow rollout means only 1.28million of its 6.13million doses has been given, according to its own European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and other official sources.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is under fire for the slow rollout, ordering jabs too late and even threatening an export war.
Just 6.82 per cent of the EU population has had a jab compared with 28.6 per cent here, including nine out of ten over-6 s in England.
Prime minister Boris Johnson hailed 20million jabs as ‘a huge national achievement and a testament to the tireless work of NHS staff, volunteers, the Armed Forces and many more’.
Yesterday, new cases here fell to 6,03 – the lowest since September – with deaths down a third in one week to 144.
The EU was also urged to ‘share Covid-19 vaccine doses with lowerincome countries fairly and quickly’ by the ONE Campaign charity.
Its report said ten developed countries had carried out three quarters of the world’s Covid-19 vaccinations, with 130 nations not yet receiving a first dose.
It also said 27 EU countries, the US, Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan had gathered 3billion doses – 1billion more than they need for each citizen.
ONE Campaign UK director Romilly Greenhill told Metro: ‘That rich countries have excess vaccines, while more than 100 poorer countries have had to go without delivering a single dose, is simply wrong.
‘If it is allowed to thrive anywhere, the chances increase of strains emerging which current vaccines might not be effective against.’
Her warning came amid reports that developing nations were being charged more per dose. Bangladesh is said to be paying $4 per Oxford/AstraZeneca jab while EU countries pay $3. 0 each.
Today, the Disasters Emergency Committee will warn the pandemic has raised hunger levels and may cause ‘humanitarian catastrophes’ including famine in nations such as South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.