WHO Foundation Warns Global Economy To Lose "Trillions Of Dollars" On COVID-19 Vaccine Inequality: CNBC

The WHO Foundation CEO, Anil Soni, has told CNBC that the global economy will lose “trillions of dollars” if more COVID-19 vaccines aren’t delivered worldwide. The World Health Organization has set a target for 70% of the global population to be vaccinated by mid-2022.

Speaking in late February for this week’s episode of CNBC’s “Equity and Opportunity” on vaccine equity, Soni said it is a “moral imperative” to vaccinate the world against Covid.

“But epidemiologically and economically, vaccine inequity is self-defeating. The numbers make that clear. We’re going to lose trillions of dollars in the global economy if we don’t achieve high vaccine coverage because what you’ll have in global supply chains is materials not able to come from the countries in which you have continued lockdowns, continued high rates of transmission of COVID-19.”

Related: White House Warns It Cannot Afford COVID-19 Related Solutions If Cases Increase

Soni added that even with vaccines, the spread of the omicron variant had been “breathtaking.” If large populations of the world remain unvaccinated, future variants could develop which may be resistant to vaccinations.

Last week, the U.N. reported that while more than 10.5 billion vaccine doses had been administered globally, only about 13% of low-income countries had been vaccinated, compared with nearly 70% in high-income ones.

In 2021, the WHO Foundation launched the “Go Give One” fundraising campaign that encourages everyone to contribute $5, with 95% of the money going toward buying a single vaccine through the international initiative COVAX — co-led by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and vaccine alliance Gavi, alongside delivery partner UNICEF. Soni said the campaign had raised $15 million so far, buying 3 million vaccines.

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