UN event feared to be a COVID super spreader

There are fears across the US that this week’s annual world leaders meeting at the United Nations could spark a super spreader event

The week of UN general assembly will end with leaders of some of America’s closest allies in Asia – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga – heading to Washington for the first in-person meeting of the Quad bloc on Friday.

But fears the event could become a super spreader comes as developing countries struggle with access to Covid-19 vaccines, even as developed nations begin offering booster shots.

Scores of Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers are set to ignore a US suggestion to stay home and address the UN General Assembly virtually.

It follows the World Health Organisation saying more than 5.7 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally.

But 73 percent of those doses have been administered in just 10 countries.

The W-H-O is concerned about vaccine equity being the biggest stumbling block to ending the pandemic – and preventing even more infectious strains of COVID-19.