London, Dec. 2 (FN Agency) The COVID-19 pandemic will continue as long as large portions of the world’s population are unvaccinated, warned the head of the global vaccine alliance Gavi. “While we still need to know more about Omicron, we do know that as long as large portions of the world’s population are unvaccinated, variants will continue to appear, and the pandemic will continue to be prolonged,” said Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, in an email to Xinhua.
Gavi is co-leading the COVAX Facility, a global vaccine sharing mechanism, together with the World Health Organization and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries. “We will only prevent variants from emerging if we are able to protect all of the world’s population, not just the wealthy parts,” Berkley said. “The world needs to work together to ensure equitable access to vaccines, now,” he emphasized. “No-one is safe until everyone is safe,” he noted.