“The situation in Tigray, Ethiopia, is, if I use one word, horrific. Very horrific. Many people have started dying, actually, because of hunger, and severe and acute malnutrition is becoming rampant. Rape is rampant. I don't think there was that scale anywhere else in the world, actually.”
“This afternoon, WHO gave emergency use listing to sign off on Beijing's COVID-19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality. This expands the list of vaccines that COVAX can buy and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval and to import and administer a vaccine.”
“Nearly 900 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but over 81% have gone to high- or upper middle-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.3%.”
“We, too, want to see societies and economies reopening, and travel and trade resuming. But right now, intensive care units in many countries are overflowing and people are dying - and it's totally avoidable. The COVID-19 pandemic is a long way from over. But we have many reasons for optimism. The decline in cases and deaths during the first two months of the year shows that this virus and its variants can be stopped.”
“Even those countries who have high coverage of vaccines will not be secure because the new variants that may not be stopped by the vaccines we have, will invade the countries that may have even 100% coverage in a few months.”
“In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data. I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing. I welcome the recommendations for further studies to understand the earliest human cases and clusters, to trace the animals sold at markets in and around Wuhan, and to better understand the range of potential animal hosts and intermediaries. The role of animal markets is still unclear. The team has confirmed that there was widespread contamination with SARS-CoV-2 in the Huanan market in Wuhan, but could not determine the source of this contamination... The team also visited several laboratories in Wuhan and considered the possibility that the virus entered the human population as a result of a laboratory incident. However, I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough. Further data and studies will be needed to reach more robust conclusions. Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation, potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy.”
“At the beginning of the year, I issued a call for countries to work together to ensure that all countries started vaccinations within the first 100 days of the year. COVAX [the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility] needs 10 million doses immediately as an urgent stopgap measure so these 20 countries can start vaccinating their health workers and older people within the next two weeks. COVAX is ready to deliver, but we can't deliver vaccines we don't have. Ten million doses is not much and it is not nearly enough, but it is a start.”
“The whole world is affected. Each and every individual. That means mass trauma, which is beyond proportion. Even bigger than what the world experienced after the Second World War. And when there is mass trauma it affects communities for many years to come. Countries have to see it as such and prepare for that, mass, mass trauma.”
“Some questions have been raised as to whether some hypotheses have been discarded. Having spoken with some members of the team, I wish to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and studies. Some of that work may lie outside the remit and scope of this mission. We have always said that this mission would not find all the answers, but it has added important information that takes us closer to understanding the origins of the virus.”
“We need to prevent vaccine nationalism. Whilst there is a wish amongst leaders to protect their own people first, the response to this pandemic has to be collective.”
“I’m very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute, but had been in contact with senior Chinese officials.”
“In addition to COVID, 2020 has been very difficult for me because my country [Ethiopia] is in trouble. [I have many relatives in the troubled region] including my younger brother, and I don’t know where they are. I have not communicated with them because communication is not there. As if COVID is not enough, I have that personal pain also. I worry about the whole country. I cannot worry about my younger brother or my relatives alone because the situation is worsening.”
“Progress on vaccines gives us all a lift and we can now start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, WHO is concerned that there is a growing perception that the COVID-19 pandemic is over. We know it’s been a hard year and people are tired, but in hospitals that are running at or over capacity it’s the hardest it can possibly be. The truth is that at present, many places are witnessing very high transmission of the COVID-19 virus, which is putting enormous pressure on hospitals, intensive care units and health workers.”
“Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it. Never in the history of public health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic. Allowing a dangerous virus that we don’t fully understand to run free is simply unethical. It’s not an option.”
“The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come. Early results from serology (antibody) studies are painting a consistent picture: most of the world's people remain susceptible to this virus, even in areas that have experienced severe outbreaks. Many countries that believed they were past the worst are now grappling with new outbreaks. Some that were less affected in the earliest weeks are now seeing escalating numbers of cases and deaths.”
“We all have lessons to learn from the pandemic. Every country and every organisation must examine its response and learn from its experience. The WHO is committed to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement”
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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus brief description
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