WHO calls for world leaders and pharmaceutical chiefs to end 'disgraceful' global vaccine inequality

(CNN) The World Health Organization (WHO) has pressed the 20 most powerful world leaders and pharmaceutical chiefs to reverse the "disgraceful" inequity in global access to Covid-19 vaccines by the fall, in order to avert yet another deadly wave of cases over the winter.

• WHO's Bruce Aylward said the world should be "disgusted" with the imbalance in available tools to fight the pandemic and appealed to the wealthiest nations to focus on helping all countries vaccinate at least 10% of their populations by September. Only 1.1% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose, due to a lack of supplies. "I can't help but think: if we had tried to withhold vaccines from parts of the world, could we have made it any worse than it is today?" Aylward, senior adviser to the WHO director-general and head of the ACT Accelerator initiative, which is aimed at providing pandemic resources to developing countries.
• Aylward's comments come a week after WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a moratorium on coronavirus vaccine booster shots until September, urging the G20 to do more to improve access globally. "I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant. But we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the world's most vulnerable people remain unprotected," Tedros said.
• Facing a dreaded new wave of coronavirus infections fueled by the Delta variant, the United States and Europe are deploying a barrage of monetary incentives and mandates to convince vaccine holdouts to get off the fence. And, despite WHO's plea, momentum is building to dole out booster shots for vulnerable groups; several countries, including Germany and France, have already said they are going ahead with third doses.
• In the US, vaccine mandates are gaining momentum. New York, Virginia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, California and Washington, DC, have directed most public employees to get vaccinated or undergo testing. Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State went a step further on Monday, saying that workers who refuse to get vaccinated risk losing their jobs. "We have essentially a new virus at our throats," Inslee said, referring to the Delta variant. The moves follow President Joe Biden's announcement that federal workers would face restrictions if they don't get vaccinated. The Pentagon said Monday it would also seek to make vaccinations mandatory for the nation's active-duty troops. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden's chief medical adviser, said on MSNBC Tuesday that he thinks vaccines for teachers should be mandated, as fears mount over opening schools to unvaccinated children this fall.
• In Europe, visitors to France who have been vaccinated outside of the European Union with authorized coronavirus vaccines are now able to use the country's health pass to go to restaurants, cafes, bars and other indoor venues, the government announced this week. In Germany, the government is looking to abolish free coronavirus testing in an effort to push more people to get vaccinated amid a growing case rate in the country.
• As wealthy nations tighten their grip on vaccine arsenals -- rolling out mandates and incentives -- people elsewhere in the world are desperately trying to get their hands on doses. Thousands of people rushed to vaccination sites in Manila, the Philippine capital, on Tuesday ahead of a two-week lockdown and amid mixed messaging that unvaccinated people would miss out on welfare payments.

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Q: Covid-19 or the common cold? How to tell if your child contracted coronavirus as school starts

A: Common colds share many symptoms of the coronavirus, so if your child becomes ill as the school year gets underway, it might be difficult to immediately tell whether it's Covid-19, said CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen.

Some shared symptoms of Covid-19 and the common cold include a sore throat, fatigue and a headache, according to Wen. Coughing is another common symptom of both viruses, although according to the Mayo Clinic, the Covid-19 cough tends to be drier.

If you suspect your child has Covid-19, the most important thing is to not send them to school, Wen cautioned, and get them tested. "I would encourage parents to have a high index of suspicion and to definitely not send your child to school if they are not feeling themselves and have any symptoms that could be Covid-19," she said.

Send your questions here. Are you a health care worker fighting Covid-19? Message us on WhatsApp about the challenges you're facing: +1 347-322-0415.

READS OF THE WEEK

Covid-19 cases are rising in countries praised for stopping outbreaks. Do they need to change their strategies?

A year and a half since the first Covid-19 cases were identified, many countries in Asia-Pacific feel right back where they started. While Britons hit the nightclubs after a long winter of coronavirus restrictions, millions of people in Australia and China are back in lockdown. Health systems in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are overwhelmed. And countries such as the Pacific island nation of Fiji, which last year had only reported a handful of cases, are now battling major outbreaks.

To some, it's hard to understand why Asia-Pacific is being hit so hard. Many Asia-Pacific countries turned themselves into hermit nations, closing off borders to almost all foreigners, imposing strict quarantines for arrivals, and introducing aggressive testing and tracing policies to catch any cases that slipped through their defenses. And it worked -- until the highly contagious Delta variant took hold. Now the fresh outbreaks are throwing the zero Covid strategy favored by China and Australia into question, and prompting a larger debate about just how sustainable the approach is, Julia Hollingsworth writes.

Unvaccinated dad records days of regret in hospital -- and makes heartbreaking request for daughter's wedding in case he dies

Between difficult breaths of supplemental oxygen, Travis Campbell is fighting to send a message about his battle with Covid-19 in a Virginia hospital: He regrets not getting vaccinated. And while he hopes he's turned a corner, for a very scary stretch, he thought he needed to make arrangements in case he died.

The father of several children has been in a hospital in Bristol since late July, and has been recording a video diary of sorts from his room, documenting a startling roller coaster of declines and improvement. "I messed up big time, guys," he said through an oxygen mask in one video posted to Facebook on Wednesday. "I didn't get the vaccine ... I made a mistake, I admit it."

In two interviews with CNN from his hospital bed this week, he said he didn't get vaccinated because he thought he'd had Covid before. On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study suggesting that people who got Covid-19 in 2020 and didn't get a Covid-19 vaccine were more than twice as likely to be reinfected in May or June 2021, compared with people who also had Covid-19 but were later fully vaccinated.

TOP TIP

Yes, children can be affected by Covid-19.

The myth that kids can't get seriously sick from Covid-19 has been further debunked as more children get hospitalized during the Delta variant surge.

Since this time last year, more than 45,000 children have been hospitalized with Covid-19, according to the CDC. As of Saturday, an average of 203 child Covid-19 patients were admitted to US hospitals every day over the past week, CDC data shows. That's a 21.4% increase from the previous week in the number of new children getting hospitalized every day with Covid-19.

Here's why doctors say they need to be protected.