The Omicron variant may see the COVID-19 pandemic enter a brand new part of “stabilization and normalization,” a prime World Well being Group official mentioned Monday.
Dr. Hans Kluge, head of WHO’s European area, mentioned in an announcement that, whereas international locations shouldn't but let their guards down, Omicron provided believable hope for a return to normalcy with continued vaccination and pure immunity.
He pointed to how the newest variant appeared to “trigger a lot much less extreme illness” than Delta — although Omicron is extremely transmissible and has been driving up case counts globally.
“The pandemic is way from over, however I'm hopeful we are able to finish the emergency part in 2022 and handle different well being threats that urgently require our consideration,” he wrote.
Regardless of providing a glimmer of hope the pandemic might be nearing the top, Kluge lamented “enormous disparities” in entry to vaccines, arguing that international locations with decrease vaccination charges may enable the virus to adapt — and probably result in new variants.
“If 2021 was the 12 months of vaccine manufacturing, 2022 should be the 12 months of vaccine fairness within the European Area and past,” Kluge mentioned.
“Too many individuals who want the vaccine stay unvaccinated. That is serving to to drive transmission, prolonging the pandemic and growing the probability of recent variants.”
He added that it was nearly a on condition that new “variants will emerge and return” given the excessive variety of present infections, waning immunity and winter seasonality.
However Kluge was hopeful a spike in vaccinations and robust surveillance would imply “a brand new wave may now not require the return to pandemic-era, population-wide lockdowns or related measures” seen over the past two years.
His feedback got here as WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus provided a much less hopeful be aware, warning that situations remained superb for extra variants to emerge.
He instructed a WHO government board that it was harmful to imagine Omicron was the final variant or that “we're within the endgame” — however mentioned the acute part of the pandemic may probably finish this 12 months if some key targets had been met.
Vaccinating 70 % of every nation’s inhabitants by mid-2022 and bettering testing and sequencing charges to trace the virus had been amongst a few of WHO’s targets, the well being official mentioned.
“It’s true that we are going to be residing with COVID for the foreseeable future and that we might want to be taught to handle it via a sustained and built-in system for acute respiratory illnesses” to assist put together for future pandemics, Tedros mentioned.
“However studying to dwell with COVID can't imply that we give this virus a free journey. It can't imply that we settle for nearly 50,000 deaths every week from a preventable and treatable illness.”
With Publish wires
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