Covid-19 Vaccine Will Not End Pandemic – WHO DG
The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has advised that reliance on a covid-19 vaccine alone will not be able to effectively stop the pandemic.
Ghebreyesus’ tweet on Monday is coming after two world renown laboratories in the United States (Pfizer Incorporated and Moderna Incorporated) had announced that their vaccine candidates were now over 90% effective against the covid-19.
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With the global Coronavirus Cases standing at 55,014,422; 1,327,304 deaths and 38,266,630 recoveries (according to latest Worldometer figures), massive orders for vaccines are coming in from different parts of the world.
Lately, the European Union alone has sealed a deal for 300 million doses of Pfizer vaccine.
But the WHO DG noted that even though a vaccine is fundamental, compliance with all the health advisories must not be taken lightly.
This is as a second wave is already brewing in parts of the world, particularly in Europe and North and South America.
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“Since the beginning of the #COVID19 pandemic, we knew that a vaccine would be essential for bringing the pandemic under control. But it’s important to emphasize that a vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them.
“Initial supply of #COVID19 vaccines will be limited, so #healthworkers, older people and other at-risk populations will be prioritized. That will hopefully reduce the number of deaths and enable health systems to cope, but the virus will still have a lot room to move.
“A vaccine on its own will not end the #COVID19 pandemic. We will still need to continue:
-Surveillance
-Testing, isolating & caring for cases
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-Tracing & quarantining contacts
-Engaging communities
-Encouraging individuals to be careful.”
