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The goal of vaccinating 40% of the world’s population with the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of 2021, Set by the World Health Organization (WHO), Won’t be realized because 92 countries cannot reach that speed, The director-general of the organization sighed today.
“This is a plausible goal, and not achieving it is not only a moral shame, but It has claimed the lives of many people and gave the virus a chance to spread and mutate“, the WHO Director-General said at a press conference, Tan Desai Gibrejesus. Although the average vaccination rate in the world is close to 60%, the situation ranges from around 80% in Western countries to less than 8% in low-income economies mainly on the African continent.
Tan Desai said that supply problems were one of the main reasons for the failure, although Ethiopians also According to the report, in many cases, vaccines are close to their expiration dates when they arrive in developing countries, Or without the necessary components to manage them, such as syringes.
In view of the unachieved goals, Tan Desai asked the international community to continue its efforts in order to If the second goal is achieved, by the middle of 2022, 70% of the population in all countries will be vaccinated against Covid“Next year, I ask national leaders and the pharmaceutical industry to lead by example in vaccine equality,” the CEO emphasized.
He added: “It’s time to move beyond short-term nationalism and protect the population and vaccines from future variants of the coronavirus,” and emphasized that “ending the inequality in vaccine distribution is the key to ending the pandemic.”
Reduce isolation time
Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized after some countries today that the WHO recommends quarantine for Covid-positive people for 14 days, although this period “may be shortened under various circumstances.” Including Spain, this time has been reduced in mild or asymptomatic cases.
“The top priority is to contain the spread, but A balance must be found so that society and the economy will not be particularly affected“WHO epidemiologist Abdi Mahmoud said at a press conference.
Mike Ryan, WHO Director of Health Emergencies, added that the incubation period of COVID (from infection to the appearance of the first symptoms) is usually between 5 and 7 days, although some preliminary studies have shown that it is less in the case of COVID omicron mutations.
“These are limited studies and may target certain groups, such as young people, so you have to be cautious about the results,” Ryan said.
In any case, he reiterated, “The impact on health must be minimized, but the impact on the economy and society must also be minimized.”
Many countries, including the United States or Spain, have decided to shorten the quarantine period for positive persons. Because the omicron variant caused a record number of infections But in many cases, it is a mild or asymptomatic disease.
The rise of Euromicron
The rise of omicron variants of the coronavirus, coupled with the continued existence of early delta variants, is emerging “Tsunami of New Cases”Today, I reminded the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tan Desai that he called for extreme social measures to prevent infection.
Tan Desai said at a press conference that the record number of infections is close to 1 million cases per day, “will continue to put pressure on the health system on the verge of collapse, and their staff are exhausted.”
Tan Desai emphasized that given the rapid development of omicron variants, attention should be paid not only to vaccination campaigns, but also to “public health measures” to avoid saturating the health network and “to keep society open and allow children to go to school”.
However, Tan Desai insisted on the need to be vaccinated against the new coronavirus and pointed out that “people who have not been vaccinated are at greater risk of dying from the disease, regardless of its mutation.”
The head of the WHO recalled that 3.5 million people died in the pandemic in 2021, compared with less than 2 million last year.