COVID-19 booster strategy as Delta multiplies, highlights ‘disappointing inequality’: WHO

“We’re in the midst of a growing two-track pandemic where the haves and have-nots within and between countries are increasingly divergent”, underscored Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus. He explained that although the Delta variant was spreading quickly in places with high vaccination coverage, in countries with low vaccination coverage, the situation is particularly bad. “Delta and other highly transmissible variants are driving catastrophic waves of cases, which are translating into high numbers of hospitalisations and death. Even countries that successfully managed to ward off the early waves of the virus through public health measures alone, are now in the midst of devastating outbreaks”, he said. He added that in low-income countries, exhausted health workers are battling to save lives among shortages of personal protective equipment, oxygen and treatments. Delta is present in more than 104 countries and WHO expects it to be the dominant COVID-19 strain circulating worldwide very soon. Pandemic ‘not over, anywhere’ Tedros explained that vaccines...