The World Health Organization estimates that “indiscriminate recall programs are likely to prolong the pandemic […] by diverting available doses to countries that already have high vaccination rates”.
Le Monde with AFP
WHO’s boss warned, Wednesday, December 22, against the illusion that it would be enough to administer reminder doses to get out of the Pandemic of Covid-19. “No country will be able to get out of the pandemic with recall doses and reminders are not a green light to celebrate as expected,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the World Organization. Health, during a press briefing in Geneva, a few days of Christmas.
“Clearance programs without discernment are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting the doses available to countries with high vaccination rates, providing the virus more than opportunities to spread and mutate. “
“It is important to remember that the vast majority of hospitalizations and dead are people who are not vaccinated, not people who have not had a booster dose,” he insisted , adding: “And we need to be very clear” on the fact that “vaccines remain effective against delta variants like Omicron”.
Vaccal reminder campaign in 120 countries
According to the WHO Committee of Experts on Vaccine Policy (SAGE), at least 126 countries have already provided instructions for the injection of a booster dose or additional vaccination ( children, for example) and 120 of them have already started campaigns in this direction.
This is, for the most part, rich or middle-income countries, while “no poor country has yet introduced a reminder program,” says the SAGE in a statement broadcast Wednesday afternoon. “Immunization efforts must continue to focus on the reduction [of the number] of the dead and most serious cases and to protect the health system,” he adds in his conclusions.
“Public and social health measures remain an essential component in the CVIV-19 prevention strategy, particularly with regard to the Omicron Variant”, insist these specialists, as did during the press conference the doctor Maria Van Kerkhove, responsible for managing this pandemic within WHO. She emphasized the need for everyone to take her responsibilities to avoid that the virus will continue to circulate, while recognizing that it was difficult.
Dr. Van Kerkhove has, moreover, recalled that there was still enough data to conclude that the Omicron variant actually causes less serious forms of CVIV-19, as some studies seem to show it. “We do not have the complete picture and it’s too early to conclude that Imicron is more Benin than Delta or more serious than Delta,” she said.