The world should vaccinate everyone against COVID-19 to ensure the end of the pandemic, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.

His remarks came at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Reuters reported.

"The last two years have demonstrated a simple but brutal truth -- if we leave anyone behind, we leave everyone behind," said the United Nations Secretary-General.

"If we fail to vaccinate every person, we give rise to new variants that spread across borders and bring daily life and economies to a grinding halt."

He said the international community must "confront the pandemic fairly."

He noted that last fall the World Health Organization unveiled a strategy to vaccinate 40 percent of the world's population by the end of 2021 and 70 percent by the middle of this year. "We are nowhere near these targets," Guterres told the World Economic Forum.

"Vaccination rates in high-income countries are, shamefully, seven times higher than in African countries. We need vaccine equity, now," he added.

Guterres said that pharmaceutical companies must "stand in solidarity with developing countries by sharing licenses, know-how and technology so we can all find a way out of this pandemic."