Jon CohenScience’s COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation.GENEVA—Just a few weeks ago, the mood here at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) was still decidedly somber.
WHO had pushed hard for equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, yet a “grotesque” gap had formed between rich and poor nations, said WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Whereas several rich countries had enough vaccine to start to vaccinate teenagers, who are at very low risk of becoming severely ill, nurses and doctors in Africa remained unprotected.“Have you got anyone left to vaccinate in your places?” Bruce Aylward, a top-level WHO official asks facetiously. “Are we going to vaccinate the goldfish.