Thread by @kakape

“Out of 220 countries and economies, 194 have now started vaccination and 26 have not”, says @DrTedros at #covid19 @WHO presser. “Of those, seven have received vaccines and could start, and a further five countries should receive their vaccines in the coming days."

@DrTedros @WHO (Tomorrow is day 100 of the year and @WHO had called on vaccinations against #covid19 to begin in all countries within the first 100 days of the year.)

@DrTedros @WHO The remaining 14 countries have not yet begun #Covid19 vaccination for a range of reasons, says @DrTedros. "Some have not requested vaccines through COVAX, some are not yet ready, and some plan to start in the coming weeks and months."

@DrTedros @WHO COVAX has delivered more than 38 million doses to more than 100 countries and economies in the past six weeks, says @DrTedros. "We’re encouraged that almost all countries who want to start have now started”, he says. "However, I emphasize the word ’start’”.

@DrTedros @WHO “There remains a shocking imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines”, says @DrTedros.
"On average, in high income countries, almost one in four people has received a vaccine.
In low income countries, it's one in more than 500."

@DrTedros @WHO COVAX had been expecting to distribute close to 100 million doses by the end of March, says @DrTedros.
“Due to a marked reduction in supply, we have only been able to distribute 38 million doses.
We hope to be able to catch up during April and May."

@DrTedros @WHO Ongoing discussions with Indian government about vaccine supply from the Serum Institute of India, says @DrTedros.
"We're working to accelerate the release and rollout of vaccines from SKBio in the Republic of Korea. We're trying to expedite the delivery of the J&J vaccine.”

@DrTedros @WHO "We're continuing to seek donations of doses from countries who have enough to cover their entire population several times over”, says @DrTedros.
“We're expediting the review of more vaccines, including from Sinopharm, Sinovac and Gamaleya."

@DrTedros @WHO “We still have an enormous amount of work ahead of us as we seek to deliver at least 2 billion doses this year, which includes securing access and funding for 1.8 billion doses on behalf of the 92 lower income economies”, says @GaviSeth.

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth “We need continued support from governments and manufacturers, because every time a bilateral deal gets done around the COVAX facility, it means less doses for COVAX and for equitable distribution”, says @GaviSeth.

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth “We're now beginning to see supply constraints, not just of vaccines, but also of the goods that go into making vaccines”, says @GaviSeth: filters, media etc.
“One of the challenges is how we make sure we optimize supply for all of the manufacturers."

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth Committee on vaccine safety has reviewed available information on AZ vaccine and "has said that a causal relationship between the vaccine and the occurrence of blood clots with low platelets is plausible, but more investigation is required”, says @DrTedros.

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth "All vaccines and medicines carry a risk of side effects. In this case, the risks of severe disease and death from #COVID19 are many times higher than the very small risks related to the vaccine”, says @DrTedros.

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth Sinopharm and Sinovac shots are “in final stages of evaluation”, says Rogério Gaspar, director of regulation and prequalification. Technical advisory group is meeting April 26 “We expect that at least one of the two could make the time for that committee to be discussed there."

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth “The trajectory of this pandemic around the world is going in the wrong direction”, says @mvankerkhove.
"We have had six weeks in a row, where there are increases in cases. Deaths are increasing as well. And we have tools right now that can prevent infections and can save lives”

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth @mvankerkhove "We have to keep staying the course and do everything that we can”, says @mvankerkhove.
“We just really need to stop saying it's 'vaccine only’, it's 'vaccine and', and there's a lot of things that all of us can do right now."

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth “We're now beginning to see supply constraints, not just of vaccines, but also of the goods that go into making vaccines”, says @GaviSeth: filters, media etc.
“One of the challenges is how we make sure we optimize supply for all of the manufacturers."

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth Committee on vaccine safety has reviewed available information on AZ vaccine and "has said that a causal relationship between the vaccine and the occurrence of blood clots with low platelets is plausible, but more investigation is required”, says @DrTedros.

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth "All vaccines and medicines carry a risk of side effects. In this case, the risks of severe disease and death from #COVID19 are many times higher than the very small risks related to the vaccine”, says @DrTedros.

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth Sinopharm and Sinovac shots are “in final stages of evaluation”, says Rogério Gaspar, director of regulation and prequalification. Technical advisory group is meeting April 26 “We expect that at least one of the two could make the time for that committee to be discussed there."

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth “The trajectory of this pandemic around the world is going in the wrong direction”, says @mvankerkhove.
"We have had six weeks in a row, where there are increases in cases. Deaths are increasing as well. And we have tools right now that can prevent infections and can save lives”

@DrTedros @WHO @GaviSeth @mvankerkhove "We have to keep staying the course and do everything that we can”, says @mvankerkhove.
“We just really need to stop saying it's 'vaccine only’, it's 'vaccine and', and there's a lot of things that all of us can do right now."