According to the World Health Organization, one million COVID-19 deaths have been reported globally in 2022—a “tragic milestone” that necessitates increasing the number of individuals receiving the disease’s vaccine.

During an online media briefing on Thursday, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director General of WHO, stated as much.

“Considering that COVID-19 has killed one million people already this year, we cannot claim that we are learning to live with the virus.

“After the pandemic has been going on for 2.5 years and we have all the resources we need to stop these deaths,” Ghebreyesus stated.

In an attempt to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population, he called on all governments to intensify their efforts to vaccinate all health workers, the elderly, and those people who are most vulnerable to infection.

The head of WHO expressed his satisfaction at the fact that some of the least vaccinated nations—particularly those in Africa—were making progress.

The COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership was initiated in January by WHO and its partners, with a primary focus on the 34 countries that had a coverage rate of 10% or less. On the continent are all but six of them.

He added that vaccination rates were still falling and that “only 10 countries still have less than 10% coverage, most of which are facing humanitarian emergencies.”

Despite encouraging advancements in the vaccination of high-priority groups, he maintained that more work needed to be done because one-third of the global population was still unvaccinated.

According to Ghebreyesus, this comprised two-thirds of healthcare professionals and three-quarters of the elderly in low-income nations.

“Every nation, regardless of wealth, needs to do more to continue testing and sequencing, to guarantee access to life-saving medications, and to vaccinate the most vulnerable.

Additionally, to establish appropriate, customized policies to stop the spread and preserve lives. The best approach to promote a recovery that is actually sustainable is to do this, he stated.

As per his statement, the Americas remain the region with the highest rate of monkeypox transmission, even if the global case count decreased by over 20 percent last week.

He noted that the early stages of the outbreak had seen the majority of cases in Europe and a lesser number in the Americas, but that things had now turned around.

According to Ghebreyesus, 60% of cases that have been documented are in the Americas and less than 40% are in Europe.

According to him, there were indications that the outbreak was abating in Europe, where immunization, behavior modification, and efficient public health initiatives were assisting in the prevention of transmission.

However, he added, “insufficient knowledge or public health measures are combining with a lack of access to vaccines to fan the flames of the outbreak, particularly in Latin America.”

Ghebreyesus expressed gratitude to Bavarian Nordic, a vaccine manufacturer, for collaborating with the WHO’s Regional Office for the Americas on Wednesday to facilitate the distribution of its monkeypox vaccine throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

He conveyed optimism that the progress will aid in controlling the outbreak in the area.