New Delhi: Eliminating the COVID-19 virus is not possible as such viruses never go away and eventually become part of the ecosystem, a top WHO official said on Tuesday, but stressed that This year it is possible to end the public health emergency due to COVID. With a collaborative approach to correct the inequalities inherent in the -19 system.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s online Davos Agenda 2022 Summit, Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, said that ensuring a truly low level of disease incidence with maximum vaccination of the entire world population. What should be done for
“This will be the end of the public health emergency in my view and it will be the end of this pandemic,” he said, adding that this year itself had a chance to achieve it.
The worldwide spread of the deadly virus, which was first reported in China’s Wuhan in late 2019, has seen over 330 million confirmed cases globally and over 5.55 million deaths so far.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’ on January 30, 2020, and a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
However, the rise of its rapid spread omicron The variant, which has resulted in the resumption of national lockdowns, travel restrictions and quarantines in various parts of the world, has reinforced the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We won’t eliminate the virus this year. We can never eliminate this virus. Pandemic viruses become part of the ecosystem,” Ryan said.
“We may end the public health emergency this year, but the issue is about deaths, about hospitalizations and the destruction of the social, economic and political order that has caused tragedy. The virus is just There is a vehicle,” he said.
The WHO official said it was society’s response to the virus that caused the tragedy as they pointed to “inequalities in access to health facilities and all those long-standing social inequalities and those vast disparities not only between countries but also between countries.” also attributed internally. Inequality within countries”.
“Yes, we have a chance to end this public health emergency this year, if we do the right things to correct these inequalities. But the reality is that this tragedy will continue,” he said.
Ryan also sought to caution against an emerging narrative of whether the COVID-19 pandemic is on its way to be endemic in nature.
“Endemic means it is here forever. Even endemic diseases kill hundreds of thousands of people and we should not think that an epidemic being endemic is a good thing,” he said.
Speaking at the same session, Oxfam International Executive Director Gabriella Butcher said it is possible to end the pandemic if we really fundamentally change the model to ensure equitable distribution.
Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said the definition of pandemic is evolving every day. “I’m not an expert, but there will be a point when we reach a certain level of vaccination, hopefully by the end of this year, when everyone will be double or triple vaccinated, maybe we can say so. And It will also depend on what type of new forms emerge and the level of hospitalization remains under control,” he said.
He was answering the question whether the pandemic could end.
Berkeley, CEO of the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, said the COVAX program has been successful, but not without its momentum along the way.
The WHO has also been critical of the unequal distribution of vaccines and has been asking manufacturers and other countries to contribute to COVAX, a United Nations-backed program to supply vaccines to poor countries. So far it has delivered 1 billion doses.
According to the WHO, 36 of its 194 member states have vaccinated less than 10 percent of the population and 88 have vaccinated less than 40 percent of the population.
Poonawalla, whose Serum Institute of India has been a key member of the GAVI alliance, said his company stands ready to support the pool to reach global vaccine equity.
John Nkengsong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that if we want to end this epidemic, then more cooperation and more solidarity will be the way forward.
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