The World Health Organization (WHO) urges countries to invest in public health to help nations recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there are glimmers of hope in the fight against the pandemic despite global Covid-19 cases reaching near 20 million and deaths approaching 750,000.
“I know many of you are grieving and that this is a difficult moment for the world,” Tedros said during a press conference in Geneva. “But I want to be clear, there are green shoots of hope, and no matter where a country, a region, a city or a town is, it’s never too late to turn the Covid-19 outbreak around.”
Tedros mentioned fast recoveries in some countries in Southeast Asia, New Zealand, Rwanda and islands across the Caribbean and the Pacific.
France, Germany, South Korea, Spain, Italy and the UK reported major Covid-19 outbreaks and they were also able to contain it, he noted. He explained that the waning number of new cases in those countries is due to “strong and precise” measures from leaders, such as stay-at-home orders and mask mandates.
The WHO asks people to wear masks to help curb the spread of the virus and to wash their hands regularly, practice social distancing, and avoid crowded places.
“In France, President Emmanuel Macron introduced compulsory masking in busy outdoor spaces of Paris in response to an increase in cases,” Tedros said.
He said whether countries or regions have effectively removed Covid-19, contained transmission to a low level, or are still suffering from a major outbreak, now is the time to “do it all.”
“Invest in the basics of public health, and we can save both lives and livelihood,” he said.
Vaccine development
However, WHO previously said that a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine is not guaranteed despite candidates entering late-stage human trials.
“Phase three doesn’t mean nearly there,” Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said during a virtual panel discussion with “NBC Nightly News” Anchor Lester Holt hosted by the Aspen Security Forum. “Phase three means this is the first time this vaccine has been put into the general population into otherwise healthy individuals to see if the vaccine will protect them against natural infection.”
Ryan mentioned at least six potential Covid-19 vaccines in phase three human trials, such as those from drug companies Pfizer and Moderna. He added that there are over 150 under development across the world.
He said that to date, all the trials are focused on safety and generating an immune response in a small number of people. “They are sort of gates that the vaccine has to go through. This is not a gate. It is a race for the vaccine now to demonstrate that it can protect large numbers of people,” he said.
Health experts have repeatedly announced that a Covid-19 vaccine could be deployed at the end of the year or early 2021, but there is no guarantee.
Scientists acknowledge the questions about how the human body responds once it has been infected with the coronavirus. They add that the answers may affect vaccine development, including how fast it can be distributed to the public.
Moreover, officials need to ensure that states have the vials, needles and syringes required to provide the vaccine, or they could risk having none of it.
