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QNA
Doha
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the support provided by Qatar to the poor countries to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. With the continued support by the State of Qatar, “we can build a better future for the African continent and the world,” he said.
Speaking at the opening session of Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg, Ghebreyesus warned on the increasing COVID-19 infections in the African nations which lack vaccines to confront the pandemic, noting that the continent has not known a breakthrough until now, and it appears to be experiencing a rise in the number of cases with the lack of vaccines.
With the help of the “COVAX” initiative, 52 African countries have begun to vaccinate their populations, and there are only 40 million doses available, which means that less than two people out of ten will receive the vaccine while the “COVAX” program aims to vaccinate 10 percent of the population in each country by September, 40 percent by the end of this year, and up to 70 percent by June 2022, he added.
He underlined that the World Health Organization and its partners are working over a period of twenty-four hours to provide vaccines and raise the production in order to achieve this specific goal of the “COVAX” program. However, he warned that the African continent needs to build its capacities to manufacture vaccines.
The WHO Director-General said that the current crisis revealed that the African countries cannot rely on importing vaccines, and must build capacities to manufacture vaccines within the continent, not only to confront the COVID-19, but also to confront all epidemics and produce other medical materials.
The Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg, discussed in one of its first day’s sessions the future of vaccines in Africa, shedding light on some initiatives to support the African countries which speakers say face a severe shortage of vaccinations and difficulties in providing them.
Doha
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the support provided by Qatar to the poor countries to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. With the continued support by the State of Qatar, “we can build a better future for the African continent and the world,” he said.
Speaking at the opening session of Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg, Ghebreyesus warned on the increasing COVID-19 infections in the African nations which lack vaccines to confront the pandemic, noting that the continent has not known a breakthrough until now, and it appears to be experiencing a rise in the number of cases with the lack of vaccines.
With the help of the “COVAX” initiative, 52 African countries have begun to vaccinate their populations, and there are only 40 million doses available, which means that less than two people out of ten will receive the vaccine while the “COVAX” program aims to vaccinate 10 percent of the population in each country by September, 40 percent by the end of this year, and up to 70 percent by June 2022, he added.
He underlined that the World Health Organization and its partners are working over a period of twenty-four hours to provide vaccines and raise the production in order to achieve this specific goal of the “COVAX” program. However, he warned that the African continent needs to build its capacities to manufacture vaccines.
The WHO Director-General said that the current crisis revealed that the African countries cannot rely on importing vaccines, and must build capacities to manufacture vaccines within the continent, not only to confront the COVID-19, but also to confront all epidemics and produce other medical materials.
The Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg, discussed in one of its first day’s sessions the future of vaccines in Africa, shedding light on some initiatives to support the African countries which speakers say face a severe shortage of vaccinations and difficulties in providing them.
