The Washington PostThe Washington Post

North Korea faces its first covid outbreak without any vaccines

By Adam Taylor

12 May 2022 · 3 min read

North Korea admitted the inevitable this week -- that covid-19 had finally reached its population. But for global health experts, there's a particularly worrying detail: It is one of just two countries without any vaccines.

North Korea and Eritrea -- both poor and led by brutal governments -- have refused to join global vaccine-sharing initiatives, leaving their populations vulnerable to fast-spreading variants of the virus.

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