While poor countries lack vaccine doses cruelly, rich nations are opening up and vaccinating young people, who are not at great risk from COVID-19, the World Health Organization said on Friday while condemning a global failure. 

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the situation in Africa is “so dangerous” as the Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading globally. New cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Africa increased by nearly 40% as compared to the previous week. 

“Our world is failing, as the global community we are failing,” he said. 

“The problem now is a supply problem, just give us the vaccines,” the WHO director-general said. Tedros Adhanom, who is Ethiopian, is reluctant to share vaccine doses with low-income countries. 

He said, “The difference is between the haves and the have nots which is now completely exposing the unfairness of our world – the injustice, the inequality, let’s face it.”

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Under the COVAX facility, which is run jointly by the GAVI vaccine alliance and the WHO, 132 nations have got 90 million doses since February. However, the supply has been affected majorly since India suspended vaccine exports in a bid to inoculate its citizen after the deadly second wave of COVID struck the nation in April.

“We have through COVAX this month zero doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, zero doses of SII vaccines (Serum Institute of India), zero doses of J & J (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine,” said Bruce Aylward, WHO senior adviser, Reuters quoted.

“The situation right now is dire.”