Money Alone Won’t Help Poorer Countries Fight Covid, WHO Says

(Bloomberg) -- Financial donations won’t help lower-income countries defeat Covid-19 if other nations leave them no vaccines to buy, according to the World Health Organization.

Some high-income countries are approaching vaccine manufacturers to secure more shots, reducing the amounts allocated for Covax, a facility that aims to distribute vaccines equitably around the world, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing Monday.

Germany pledged to donate 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to global efforts to combat the pandemic on Friday, with most of it intended for increasing vaccine supplies in developing countries. That followed similar moves last week by France and the U.K.

“If you cannot use the money to buy vaccines, having the money doesn’t mean anything,” Tedros said.

He called on rich nations to consider whether their requests for additional inoculations could affect Covax. Many developing countries are still waiting to give their first shots after wealthier ones inoculated millions of residents.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.