■ A WHO official called it “unrealistic” to think the pandemic might be over by year’s end.
But vaccines should cut coronavirus hospitalizations, deaths
GENEVA — A senior World Health Organization official said Monday that it was “premature” and “unrealistic” to think the pandemic might be stopped by the end of the year but that the recent arrival of effective vaccines could at least help dramatically reduce hospitalizations and death.
The world’s singular focus right now should be to keep transmission of COVID-19 as low as possible, said Dr. Michael Ryan, director of WHO’S emergencies program.
“If we’re smart, we can finish with the hospitalizations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic” by the end of the year, he said at media briefing.
WHO was reassured by emerging data that many of the licensed vaccines appear to be helping curb the virus’ explosive spread, Ryan said.
“If the vaccines begin to impact not only on death and not only on hospitalization, but have a significant impact on transmission dynamics and transmission risk, then I believe we will accelerate toward controlling this pandemic,” he said.
But Ryan warned against complacency, saying that nothing was guaranteed in an evolving epidemic. “Right now the virus is very much in control,” he said.
WHO’S director-general, meanwhile, said it was “regrettable” that younger and healthier adults in some rich countries are being vaccinated against the coronavirus before atrisk health workers in developing countries. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said immunizations provided by the U.n.backed effort COVAX began this week in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, but he lamented that this was happening only three months after countries such as Britain, the U.S. and Canada began vaccinating their own populations.
“Countries are not in a race with each other,” he said. “This is a common race against the virus. We are not asking countries to put their own people at risk. We are asking all countries to be part of a global effort to suppress the virus everywhere.”
But WHO stopped short of criticizing countries who are moving to vaccinate younger and healthier populations instead of donating their doses to countries that haven’t yet been able to protect their most vulnerable people.
In other developments:
■ Canada’s most populous province has started vaccinating police officers ahead of people 80 years of age and older. A Toronto police spokesperson said Monday police constables and sergeants who respond to emergency calls where medical assistance may be required have been moved to the current phase by Ontario’s provincial government.
■ Colombia on Monday became the first country in the Americas to receive a vaccine shipment from the U.n.-backed COVAX initiative. The program is meant to ensure inoculations against COVID-19 for the world’s most vulnerable but has been hampered by limited global supply and logistical problems.
■ Brazilian health officials are urging nationwide lockdowns and curfews because hospitals are running short of intensive-care unit beds as COVID-19 claims more than 1,000 lives each day in the country.