WHO urges countries to “stop hoarding the vaccines”

“There are countries that are hoarding vaccines, the vaccines are lying in warehouses and In other places, while in other places the clock is ticking, and more and more people are getting sick and dying,” said Dr. Dorit Nitzan, the WHO’s Regional Emergency Director in an interview with Hagar Ravet at Calcalist’s Environmental Innovation Conference.

According to Dr. Nitzan, this is one of the most important issues facing the organization today - how to get more vaccines into the countries - and communities - that need them most.

“That’s why we created the COVAX platform, where the partner countries invest their money, and once we purchase those vaccines, we will be able to give them to everyone… we'd like to call upon all countries for solidarity here, and ask each and every country, before you vaccinate your entire population after you have secured the lives of your healthcare professionals, your elderly, and high-risk groups, reach out and give to your neighboring countries and stop ‘hoarding vaccines’.”

Aside from the variants and different mutations that are getting discovered around the world, one of the biggest risks still remains people’s unwillingness to get vaccinated and communicating the message to those communities about how important it is to curb the pandemic.

“It has to reach out and penetrate deep into the community, it’s very hard work with the community, so the last ones who refuse or aren’t sure will have all the tools they need to make their decisions. It’s very important that every community and consideration will be taken into account in the context,” she said.

You can watch the entire exchange in the video above.