OREANDA-NEWS. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on Europe and pharmaceutical companies to cooperate and speed up vaccination of the population due coronavirus pandemic.

«We must come together. Competing pharmaceutical companies must join forces to dramatically increase the production of vaccines», Hans Kluge told AFP in an interview.

Kluge said, that this is a big question – will the vaccine be effective against the new strain of coronavirus. He urged countries to be prepared for the emergence of new problematic coronavirus mutations and to expand DNA sequencing, as the virus, he said, still dominates people.

Of the 53 countries managed by the WHO European division, which includes a number of Central Asian States, 37 reported the presence of the British and 17 – the South African version of the coronavirus on their territory. Meanwhile, in the European Union, only 2.5 percent of the population has received the first dose of the anti-coronavirus vaccine.