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By Emma Farge and Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, June 4 (Reuters) - Wealthy countries need to give
more COVID-19 vaccines and follow the United States in making
doses available immediately to cover a 200 million dose gap
caused by Indian supply disruptions and manufacturing delays, a
WHO senior adviser said on Friday.
The World Health Organization is urging wealthy countries to
donate their surplus doses to poorer countries instead of giving
them to less vulnerable groups, such as children, and they have
so far donated 150 million doses via the COVAX sharing scheme.
However, Bruce Aylward said on Friday that only a small
portion of those doses will be available in the short-term in
June, July and August when they can make a difference in slowing
the pace of infections in the global pandemic.
"We are going to need twice that much and it's got to be
brought forward," he said, referring to the size of wealthy
country donations so far as G7 health ministers meet in Oxford.
"We are setting up for failure if we don't get early doses."
He praised a U.S. plan announced on Thursday to quickly
share 25 million doses and encouraged other wealthy countries to
follow suit.
Aylward estimated that Indian vaccine export disruptions and
delays in getting other vaccines online meant that the COVAX
sharing scheme had a gap of around 200 million doses.
India's Serum Institute has diverted AstraZeneca supplies to
the domestic market amid a devastating second wave in India and
is expected to lift those restrictions in the fourth quarter
when other products earmarked for COVAX are also due online.
"All of that is going to arrive at the same time," said
Aylward.
(Reporting by Emma Farge and Stephanie Nebehay, Editing by Ros
Russell)
