‘During this World Healthcare Workers Week, I salute all those heroes,’ Guterres tweeted, and called for ensuring that these people can perform their duties safely.

In the UN official’s view, the best way to honor them is to ensure their safety by giving them priority access to vaccines against Covid-19, and providing them with the support they need for their essential work.

However, there is currently much inequity in the distribution of those doses, the UN secretary general warned on Wednesday in his World Health Day message.

Guterres also called for the inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic and the prevailing injustices to be addressed.

The vast majority of vaccines administered are limited to the populations of a few wealthy nations or to those that produce the drug authorized for distribution, the Portuguese diplomat pointed out.

Thanks to the Covax initiative, a UN-backed international effort to provide vaccines worldwide, more states are receiving immunization against the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, he added.

However, Guterres lamented, most people in low- and middle-income countries still have to watch and wait.

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