Paris, France/Geneva, Switzerland
Reuters
People are becoming weary of the coronavirus pandemic but should remain vigilant and continue to take precautions while the world awaits a vaccine, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday.
Eleven months into the pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million people, derailed economies and turned daily lives upside down around the world, he said relying on promising but as-yet unproven vaccines was a risky bet
A nurse prepares Russia’s “Sputnik-V” vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for inoculation at a clinic in Tver, Russia, on 12th October. PICTURE: Reuters/Tatyana Makeyeva
“We may be tired of COVID-19 but it is not tired of us. European countries are struggling but the virus has not changed significantly, nor the measures to stop it,” Tedros told the Paris Peace Forum.
A recent resurgence in coronavirus infections has led many countries to adopt new lockdown measures to contain the spread of the virus and protect their creaking healthcare systems.
On Monday, US drugmaker Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE said a vaccine they are developing was 90 per cent effective against COVID-19, based on initial results from its large, late-stage trial
The results need to be confirmed by safety data.
“A vaccine is needed urgently, but we cannot wait for a vaccine and put all our eggs in one basket,” Tedros said on Thursday, repeating a call for any COVID-19 vaccine to be shared fairly with poor countries.
Meanwhile, the WHO is in discussions with the Russian institute that developed the Sputnik V candidate vaccine against COVID-19 over its potential application for emergency use listing, the UN agency said on Thursday.
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is 92 per cent effective at protecting people from COVID-19 according to interim trial results, the country’s sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday.
The WHO, in a statement to Reuters, said: “WHO has been in touch with the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, who expressed interest in applying for WHO emergency use listing.
“We look forward to receiving the data for their Sputnik V candidate vaccine. If a product submitted for assessment is found to meet the criteria for listing, WHO will publish the results widely,” it said.
By granting the vaccine emergency use listing, the WHO would effectively be recommending its use to member states. The procedure streamlines the process by which new and unlicensed vaccines and other products can be used during emergencies.
The WHO, which is backing accelerated development of vaccines to stem the pandemic, has not yet prequalified any experimental vaccine nor issued an emergency use listing.
Russia’s results are only the second from a late-stage human trial, following on swiftly from data released on Monday by Pfizer Inc and BioTech.
