WHO calls for bigger vaccine rollout as US nears ’breaking point’

The World Health Organization on Feb. 5 called on vaccine makers to dramatically boost production, as U.S. president Joe Biden warned the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic was pushing the United States towards "breaking point".

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters that while the number of Covid-19 vaccines administered (115 million) had now overtaken the number of infections worldwide (104 million), more than three-quarters of the jabs had been handed out in just 10 wealthy countries.

"Almost 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, are yet to administer a single dose", Tedros complained.

"Unless we suppress the virus everywhere, we could end up back at square one," the WHO chief said, calling on vaccine manufacturers to implement "a massive scale-up in production."

At the same time, U.S. President Joe Biden said he had to "act fast" to push a huge new economic relief package through Congress, because many Americans were near "breaking point."

The U.S., the world's biggest economy, is the country that has been hardest hit by the pandemic so far.

Out of the nearly 2.3 million people who have died from Covid-19 worldwide since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, the US has recorded more than 450,000 deaths.

"I see enormous pain in this country, a lot of folks out of work, a lot of folks going hungry," Biden said in a White House speech.

"We can reduce suffering in this country," Biden said. "I truly believe real help is on the way," as he sought support from the Republican party for his $1.9-trillion pandemic relief package.

Europe is still the worst-affected region, with more than 760,000 deaths.
And here, the slow vaccine rollout has sparked public anger...