The Secretary-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said today that the COVID-19 variant virus Delta, which was first discovered in India, is “the most infectious variant virus known” and warned that it is now in at least 85 countries spread.
World Health Organization epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said: “The Delta variant virus will continue to mutate. At this moment, our public health and social epidemic prevention measures are effective, our vaccines are protective, and our diagnosis and treatment are effective; but it is still possible. At some point, as the virus continues to mutate, these countermeasures will become ineffective.”
Countries with high vaccination rates such as Europe and the United States have relaxed border restrictions and other public health measures, and WHO officials have warned that this may lead to a resurgence of the epidemic.
Maria Van Kerkhove said that “the current global situation is precarious” and that although the epidemic in Europe has slowed down, there are still countless activities that will spread the epidemic, including major sports events and family barbecues in the backyard.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out at a press conference today that the lack of vaccines in poor countries has increased the spread of the Delta variant virus. He also mentioned that he recently attended a meeting of a vaccine delivery advisory group.
He said: “This advisory group is very frustrated because there is no vaccine to deliver. Since there is no vaccine at all, what else to share?” He criticized rich countries for reluctance to share vaccines with developing countries immediately.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the international community has become disabled, and there is a risk of repeating the mistakes made during the AIDS crisis decades ago and the swine flu pandemic in 2009, when the vaccine was delivered to poor countries after the epidemic ended.
He said: “(AIDS) has been rampant in high-income countries, and (antiretroviral drugs) will be sent to low-income countries only 10 years later. Are we going to repeat the same mistakes?”
The Global Access to Vaccines (COVAX), which is dedicated to the distribution of vaccines to poor countries under the support of the United Nations, has not achieved certain goals of sharing vaccines, and its largest supplier is not expected to re-export vaccines until the end of the year. The hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines promised by the United Kingdom and the United States and other countries will not be available in the short term.
Bruce Aylward, Senior Advisor to the Secretary-General of the WHO, admitted: “We have delivered zero vaccines for AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnsonand Johnson through COVAX this month.”
He said: “During this period, each of our supply sources cannot provide vaccines because other countries are competing for these products. These countries are administering vaccines to young people who are not at risk.”
