KATHMANDU: International human rights organization, Amnesty International has said that to stem the tide of new variants and end the pandemic, countries that have been stockpiling vaccines must immediately redistribute them.

They must also ensure that countries have enough time and resources to adequately carry out a comprehensive roll-out.

Likewise, pharmaceutical companies need to realize they are in the business of producing life-saving products that must go where they are needed most, not where they are paid top dollar, says a statement issued by Amnesty International’s Health Advisor, Tamaryn Nelson.

The statement comes to mark the one-year anniversary of the first Covid-19 vaccine administered worldwide.

“The recent emergence of the Omicron variant is a stark reminder of what happens when we fail to address the pandemic at a global level.

Yet while some high-income countries have fully vaccinated nearly 90% of their populations, just over 7% of people in low-income countries have received a single dose”, reads the statement.

Stating that leaders in wealthy countries have been urging their populations to get vaccinated, efforts are being made to acknowledge the importance of vaccines to end the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the wake of the Omicron variant.

These same leaders, however, seem to forget that this same message applies to everybody around the world.

“It is shocking that wealthy countries, whose populations have all been offered vaccines, continue to hoard hundreds of millions of unused doses while pharmaceutical companies are still sending the lion’s share of their production to these same countries”.