After much of the world fell short of targets to vaccinate 70 percent of the population against COVID-19 in July, the World Health Organization’s new strategy prioritizes health workers and the elderly.
The updated WHO strategy preserves the 70 percent vaccination target that the agency called “crucial,” but puts more emphasis on recommendations for countries to vaccinate all their health workers and people over 60 . The new strategy, published on July 22, recognizes that countries will still need to set their own targets for national vaccination programs.
The language harkens back to earlier WHO statements about achieving 70 percent vaccine coverage in each country by mid-2022, a goal that was clearly missed. By mid-year, only 58 countries had reached 70 percent of their population. The target is now described as “aspirational”, with no new date set for achieving it.
The WHO warned that many people most at risk remain unprotected despite the largest and fastest global vaccination rollout in history. More than 12 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered worldwide, bringing countries to about 60 percent of their population, on average.
“Even when 70 percent vaccination coverage is achieved, if significant numbers of healthcare workers, the elderly and other at-risk groups remain unvaccinated, deaths will continue, health systems will remain under pressure and global recovery will be at risk,” the WHO said. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said when announcing the new strategy.
There are huge global disparities: in low-income countries, only 28 percent of the elderly and 37 percent of health workers have received a primary course of vaccines, and most have not received booster doses, the WHO said. For the general population, only 16 percent of eligible adults in low-income countries and 21 percent in African nations have completed a two-course dose, according to the University’s “Our World in Data” vaccine tracker of Oxford.
With clear disparities in global vaccine coverage, analysts have previously warned that broader targets of 70 percent coverage should be reexamined to focus on those at greatest risk.
Even as the WHO adjusts its targets, health officials are renewing calls to distribute resources fairly, for in-process vaccines adapted to COVID-19 variants and for new health emergencies.
On July 23, the WHO declared the monkeypox outbreak a global public health emergency, the first such declaration since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccines and antiviral treatments for monkeypox are currently available in only half of the countries that are seeing cases, a WHO official said.
This article was adapted from reports published by Health Policy Watch
Edited by Irwin Loy.