Will vaccinate 40 per cent of every country by year-end: WHO

A staff member sprays disinfectant at Gulangyu Island as it prepares to reopen to tourists, in Xiamen, in China’s eastern Fujian province. Pic/AFP

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced an initiative to vaccinate 40 per cent of the population of every country against COVID-19 by the end of 2021 and 70 per cent by mid-2022, by prioritising vaccine delivery to low-income countries, particularly those in Africa.

"Today, the WHO is launching the Strategy to Achieve Global COVID-19 Vaccination by mid-2022," Xinhua news agency quoted WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as saying at a press briefing here on Thursday. "The strategy outlines the road we must all take together to achieve our targets of vaccinating 40 per cent of the population of every country by the end of this year, and 70 per cent by middle of next year." According to Tedros, achieving these targets will require at least 11 billion vaccine doses, which is an allocation problem instead of a supply problem.

‘Incentives for illegal stayers who want to leave'

People staying illegally in South Korea who want to leave the country voluntarily after completing COVID-19 vaccination will be given incentives, including exemption from fines, the Ministry of Justice said on Friday. The government will waive fines and suspend re-entry restrictions for fully vaccinated illegal stayers choosing to voluntarily depart from South Korea between October 12 and December 31, Yonhap News Agency quoted the Ministry as saying.

Finland discourages use of Moderna jab

Finland has joined other Nordic countries in suspending or discouraging the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in certain age groups because of an increased risk of heart inflammation, a rare side effect associated with the shot. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare said on Thursday that authorities won't give the shot to males under age 30. They will be offered the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine instead. The government agency said it found that young men and boys were at a slightly higher risk of developing myocarditis.

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