The World Health Organization (WHO) said that any Covid-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use should be recognized by countries as they open up their borders to inoculated travelers.
Almost all the European countries rely upon the vaccines made in the United States and Europe. Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca etc. have been heavily recognized in the Western countries but the majority of the poor or developing countries use the Chinese vaccines.
According to the statement issued by the World Health Organization on Thursday, WHO said that any Covid-19 vaccine that has been authorized for emergency use should be recognized by countries as they open their borders to inoculated travelers.
In addition to vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderana Inc., AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, the UN Health agency also have given green light to two Chines vaccines, made by Sinovac and Sinopharm. The European Union had come with the view in May that it would welcome the people who had received shots licensed by the European Medicines Agency.
The decision was however left on the individual countries to recognize the people, who had received the Chinese and Russian’s Sputnik V shots. The drug regulatory authority of the European Union is though considering licensing China’s Sinovac Vaccine but with no timeline on the decision.
The versions of AstraZeneca vaccine which has been made in India too is not being recognized by the European Union. World Health Organization said, “Any measure that only allows people protected by a subject of vaccine authorized by WHO to benefit from the reopening of travel…would effectively create a two-tier system, further widening the global vaccine divide and exacerbating the inequalities we have already seen in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine. It would negatively impact the growth of economies that are already suffering the most.”
The World Health Origination came ahead with the view that such moves undermine confidence in life-saving vaccines that have already been shown to be safe and effective.
It says that two Chinese vaccines have been found to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalizations and deaths. This move of WHO could challenge European countries to broaden their acceptance of two apparently less effective Chinese vaccine which have been licensed by WHO.
