MADRID, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- As the global COVID-19 cases are approaching 100 million, a Spanish expert has warned that only a worldwide vaccination campaign can help solve the current global health crisis.

Unless the coronavirus vaccines are put into use globally, "it will not be a solution to the pandemic," Rafael Vilasanjuan, director of the Department of Analysis and Global Development of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, told Xinhua recently.

Governments must understand that without the global distribution of vaccines, no single country will benefit individually, Vilasanjuan added.

"Vaccinating only a sector of the world population will not be the solution, since the world is in constant motion, so it is essential to understand that if the problem is global, then so is the solution," he stressed.

In logistical terms, the vaccines that have been approved so far by the European Union are not going to lower infection rates as only a small sector of society are being vaccinated.

According to Vilasanjuan, the impact of Spain's vaccination campaigns will start to be seen during the second stage of the plan with the arrival of Astrazeneca vaccines, since they are easy to store and distribute and thus could reach more people.

However, "even in summer, between the months of June and July, we won't have reached group immunity in Spain," the specialist predicts.

Globally, Vilasanjuan said, 94 countries still have no vaccines although the World Bank plans to finance them to immunize at least 20 percent of their populations.

The pandemic has shown us that public health goes beyond borders and that it is vital to collaborate internationally, the expert stressed.

"Among the lessons that Spain has been learning since the start of the pandemic is that you have to maintain an active investment in scientific investigation, because the pandemic was something that you could see was going to happen, so we have to be able to respond to problems such as this," he added. Enditem

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