The coronavirus outbreak laid bare the unfair distribution of wealth in the world, something now reflected in access to vaccines for poor countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday against a widening gap between the numbers of vaccines in wealthy countries and those distributed to poorer nations through the global Covax initiative.

Addressing a United Nations session on Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan highlighted the issue and expressed his country’s readiness to offer its own vaccine to countries in need once the vaccine studies are completed.

The vaccine issue has taken a dire turn, and nearly 100 countries have no access to the COVID-19 vaccine yet, Erdoğan said in his video message to the online meeting "Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond" held by the U.N. with the participation of heads of state and government officials.

While there are countries that have vaccinated almost all their citizens, billions of people are not able to access even the first dose of the vaccine, he stressed. But it is clear that the pandemic will not end and economic recovery will not occur without ensuring fair access to the vaccine, he said. Countries reaching the number of doses that can vaccinate their citizens should deliver their excess vaccines to countries in need, Erdoğan underlined.

"It has been one year since the outbreak began and it showed that fate of humankind is shared against global problems. Turkey has exerted efforts to strengthen global solidarity and cooperation in this fight since day one. With this mindset, we supplied medical aid and support to 157 countries and 12 international organizations. We particularly stood with our African brothers and sisters in those difficult days. The COVID-19 outbreak once again demonstrated faults in the global system we often voiced. The global outbreak, which caught even the richest countries unprepared, caused significant devastation, especially in underdeveloped countries," Erdoğan said.

The president’s remarks echoed WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said, "The unequitable distribution of vaccines is not just a moral outrage, it's also economically and epidemiologically self-defeating," in a conference hosted by United Arab Emirates (UAE) on global immunization. "As long as the virus continues to circulate anywhere, people will continue to die, trade and travel will continue to be disrupted, and the economic recovery will be further delayed," he said. It follows criticism by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of nations creating a "stockpile" of COVID-19 vaccines, calling on them to share to help end the pandemic.

Health officials have rolled out more than 510 million coronavirus vaccine doses around the world. Tedros had called for all countries to begin vaccinating within the first 100 days of the year, but as that deadline nears, 36 countries have yet to receive a single dose. Sixteen of those are scheduled to receive their first doses through the Covax initiative within the next two weeks, but the other 20 countries are expected to miss out.

The Covax initiative was expected to deliver some 238 million doses around the world by the end of May and has so far shipped more than 32 million doses. The scheme is co-led by the WHO, the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

The U.N.'s children's agency on Monday urged wealthier countries to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, adding that $510 million is needed to support delivery around the world.

Intranasal vaccine soon

Turkey's vaccination campaign with CoronaVac, an inactive vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac, has reached 15.4 million doses, and the country aims to develop its own vaccine this year. Scientists and companies in the country are working on a number of vaccines, from inactive to Messenger RNA (mRNA) types. Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank told reporters on Tuesday that scientists working with nanotechnology firm Nanografi are developing the country's first intranasal COVID-19 vaccine. He said that the vaccine in nasal spray form is expected to be more effective.

"It will boost Turkey's efforts in its fight against the coronavirus," Varank said, adding the vaccine could be "remodeled" in case of virus mutations.

Phase 1 human trials will begin shortly for the vaccine candidate as its preclinical stages have successfully been completed, he said. "After all clinical stages are successfully completed, we aim to launch administering intranasal vaccine this year," Varank stressed.

Elsewhere, six vaccine projects, supported by the Presidency of Turkish Health Institutes (TÜSEB) are underway, though they are not expected to be available to the public until later this year. The directorate, associated with the Health Ministry, also plans to sponsor two more vaccine candidates. A vaccine developed by Erciyes University is ahead of others in terms of development and is currently in Phase 2 trials.