Main content

WHO warns rich countries could hoard vaccines

The World Health Organization says fears over new Covid-19 variants could prompt rich countries to hoarde vaccines, preventing them from reaching the developing world.

The World Health Organization has warned that if wealthy countries begin hoarding Covid-19 vaccines in response to the emergence of new variants of the virus, it could threaten supplies to nations where people still haven't had the jab. We hear from Lily Caprani, Head of Advocacy for Health, Vaccines and Pandemic Response at UNICEF. Plus, we speak to some of the workers at a branch of Starbucks in New York state who have made history, by voting to join a trade union. The move comes decades after the coffee chain decertified organised labour in the United States. Also in the programme, the credit rating agency Fitch has declared that Chinese property conglomerate Evergrande is in default to overseas investors, after it apparently failed to make a crucial interest payment this week. Rebecca Choong Wilkins is a debt specialist from Bloomberg in Hong Kong, and discusses the implications. We also hear from Nicole Perlroth, whose book This is How They Tell Me the World Ends won the 2021 Financial Times Business Book of the Year award, about the threat to the world of global cyber espionage.

(Picture: The World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva; Picture credit: Getty Images.)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Thu 9 Dec 2021 22:32GMT

Broadcast

  • Thu 9 Dec 2021 22:32GMT