International
WHO expects COVID-19 to end in 2022
The World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted the year 2022 as the end of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world.
The WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated this at the organisation’s last briefing of the year on pandemic Wednesday.
He warned world leaders on the consequences of uneven distribution of the vaccine across the globe.
According to the WHO chief, the rush by wealthy countries to roll out additional COVID-19 vaccine doses was deepening the inequity in access to drugs across the world.
Ghebreyesus said: “No country can boost its way out of the pandemic. 2022 must be the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ ALSO: WHO approves 9th COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use
“We know the virus very well and we have all the tools [to fight it].
“Blanket booster programmes are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate.
The Ethiopian cited Africa as an example of a continent largely struggling to receive enough vaccine jabs.
He added: “It’s frankly difficult to understand how a year since the first vaccines were administered, three in four health workers in Africa remain unvaccinated.”
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