World Health Organization presses Pfizer to make Covid-19 pill more available

The WHO chief warned that the unequal distribution of Covid-19 drugs could ultimately mirror the grossly disproportionate distribution of coronavirus vaccines as fewer than 16% of people in poor countries have received a single dose.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on Pfizer to make its Covid-19 treatment more widely available in poorer countries, saying the pharmaceutical company’s deal allowing generic producers to make the drug was insufficient.

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news briefing that Pfizer’s treatment was still too expensive.