Antonio Guterres called on rich countries to reason in the fight against Covid-19.
The UN chief described Thursday, October 7, as "immoral" and "stupid" the grabbing of anti-Covid vaccines to the detriment of poor states.
He assured that this left the field open to the appearance of new potentially dangerous variants.
Inequality of access to vaccines "is the best ally of the Covid-19 pandemic", he warned, during a joint press conference with the director general of the World Organization of health (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"It allows variants to develop freely, dooming the world to millions more deaths and prolonging the economic downturn," he added.
"Not a problem of supply, but of distribution"
Earlier this year, the WHO had requested that each country vaccinate 10% of its population by the end of September.
"56 countries failed to do this, through no fault of their own," but due to a lack of vaccines, said Dr Tedros.
WHO now wants 40% of the population of each country to be vaccinated by the end of the year and 70% by the middle of 2022.
"Achieving these goals will require at least 11 billion doses of vaccine. This is not a supply issue, but a distribution issue," said Dr Tedros.
"By the end of September, some 6.5 billion doses had already been administered worldwide. With global vaccine production now reaching nearly 1.5 billion doses per month, the supply is sufficient to meet our targets, provided that they are distributed equitably, ”he continued.
Manufacturers called upon to favor Covax
"We can reach 40% of the people in all countries by the end of the year - if we can mobilize some 8 billion dollars to ensure equitable distribution", assured Antonio Guterres, without specifying how these funds would be used. .
To obtain the 11 billion doses at least required, WHO is asking manufacturers to transfer technology and promote the international Covax system and the African Fund for the Acquisition of Vaccines (Avat) set up by the African Union.
It also calls on countries to share doses and to immunize health workers and vulnerable and elderly people first, before immunizing adults as a whole, and then adolescents.
Dr Tedros also indicated that the WHO had just adopted a definition for what is commonly called the "long Covid", the most common symptoms of which include fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction.
According to this definition, symptoms must last at least two months and cannot be explained by anything else, he said.
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