"I want governments, industry and civil society to work with us on a campaign that aims for 70 percent vaccine coverage in all countries by this date," the WHO director said. 

He added that there are 185 days to go and that "The clock starts now."

"This is the time to overcome short-term nationalism and protect populations and economies against future variants by ending global vaccine inequality," Tedros continued.

The WHO head noted that less than 40% of the globe has been vaccinated thus far.