The chief of the World Health Organization(WHO) has appealed to producers of COVID-19 vaccines and the countries buying them to stop making bilateral deals to ensure distribution is fair and equal.

In a virtual briefing Friday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that now we are seeing both high- and middle-income countries that are part of the COVAX Facility vaccine alliance program making additional bilateral deals.

He said this potentially bumps up the price for everyone and means high-risk people in the poorest and most marginalized countries don’t get the vaccine, and warned against "vaccine nationalism.” 

He urged countries and manufacturers to stop making bilateral deals at the expense of COVAX, a UN-backed project to get vaccines deployed widely.

The director general noted that 42 countries are now rolling out vaccines, mostly high-income and a few middle-income countries, and called on countries that have more than they need to make some available to the COVAX Facility.