World is at risk of 'vaccine apartheid', says WHO chief

Highlighting the gap in vaccinations between high-income countries and low and lower-middle income countries, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said that the world is at the risk of 'vaccine apartheid'.

Speaking at the Paris Peace Forum Spring Meeting, the WHO boss said: "I think I would go one step further and say not just that the world is at risk of vaccine apartheid; the world is in vaccine apartheid."

He also added that at least 63 million doses of vaccines have been shipped to 124 countries and economies, but they represent just 0.5 per cent of the combined population of those nations.