WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Vaccines alone will not stop Omicron COVID variant! The new Omicron variant has already spread in 77 countries!
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said that vaccines alone will not bring any country out of the Omicron variant “crisis.”
This came after the health agency yesterday revealed that the variant of concern is present in 77 countries across the world.
Health officials in Europe are warning of a sharp rise in cases caused by the variant, which is thought to be even more transmissible than Delta and can resist immunity.
Read more
.
Countries such as the US have tightened recommendations for booster vaccinations, or access to them, to improve protection against the variant of concern.
On December 9, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the health agency is recommending booster vaccination for all people 16 years of age and older because “preliminary data suggest that COVID-19 booster vaccinations extend and strengthen protection against Omicron and other variants.”
In the UK, there were reports of long queues outside vaccination centres after the country’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, set a target to offer booster vaccinations to all adults by the end of the year in response to the Omicron variant.
While booster vaccinations will play an important role as countries around the world seek to protect themselves against the new variant, Dr Tedros stressed that other measures will also be crucial.
“I have to be very clear,” he said. “Vaccines alone will not get any country out of this crisis.
“It’s not about vaccines instead of masks. It’s not about vaccines instead of distancing. It’s not about vaccines instead of ventilation or hand hygiene. Do it all. Do it consistently. Do it well.”
Tedros also expressed concern that the rapid introduction of booster shots could lead to a renewed hoarding of vaccines and exacerbate the problem of vaccine inequality.
“Let me be very clear: WHO is not against booster vaccines. We are against inequity. Our main concern is to save lives, everywhere.”
Pfizer and BioNTech are currently working on a new COVID vaccine specific for the Omicron variant. In a press release issued Dec. 8, the companies said they hope to have this vaccine available in March 2022.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson also announced that it has begun developing a new vaccine against Omicron, and said in a Nov. 29 press release that it would move the vaccine quickly into clinical trials if needed.
