WHO: 80,000 to 180,000 Health Workers Lost Their Lives to COVID-19
The World Health Organization announces that 80,000 to 180,000 health care workers may have been victims of COVID-19 and stresses that they must be prioritized for vaccination.
A WHO paper estimated on Thursday that 80,000 to 180,000 health care workers may have been victims of COVID-19 between January 2020 to May 2021, stressing that this category must be prioritized for vaccination.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO chief, affirmed that health care workers need to be among the first immunized against COVID-19, as he slammed the global inequity in the vaccine roll-out.
"Data from 119 countries suggest that on average, 2 in 5 health and care workers globally are fully vaccinated," he said. "In Africa, less than 1 in 10 health workers have been fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, in most high-income countries, more than 80 percent of health workers are fully vaccinated."
The WHO chief called on all countries "to ensure that all health and care workers in every country are prioritized for COVID-19 vaccines, alongside other at-risk groups."
The organization wants each country to have vaccinated 40 percent of its population by the end of the year, but Tedros said 82 countries are at risk of missing that target due to insufficient supply.