World faces shortage of syringes as COVID vaccine doses rise

By CARA ANNA
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — African health officials and the United Nations are warning of a looming shortage of up to 2 billion syringes for mainly low- and middle-income countries around the world as the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses rises, and routine vaccinations could be affected, too. The U.N. children’s agency says it is not anticipating a significant supply shortage of the more standard syringes used in high-income countries. The threatened shortage comes as the flow of COVID-19 doses increases after months of delays to the African continent. It is the world’s least protected region with less than 6% of its population of 1.3 billion people fully vaccinated.