WHO estimate: 115,000 health workers have died from Covid-19, as calls for vaccine access grow

An estimated 115,000 health workers have died from Covid-19 Globally, just two in five health care workers are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the WHO said Thursday. Andrew Joseph STAT

Some 115,000 health care workers died from Covid-19 from January 2020 to May of this year, according to a new World Health Organization estimate, as the agency pushed once again for efforts to address vaccine inequity.

Globally, 2 in 5 health care workers are fully vaccinated, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing Thursday. But, he added, “that average masks huge differences across regions and economic groupings.”

In most high-income countries, more than 80% of health care workers are fully vaccinated, Tedros said. But in Africa, the rate is less than 1 in 10.

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Tedros called for countries to prioritize health care workers in their vaccination rollouts, but the clear message underlying the WHO’s updated data Thursday was that there remain massive disparities in vaccine access globally. The WHO has called for countries to postpone the delivery of booster shots until supply improves in countries that have had limited deliveries....

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