The number of deaths remains stable, but the agency is concerned about the impact the variant is having on already exhausted health workers and overburdened health systems. Although Omicron may be less severe, for Dr Tedros “the narrative that it is mild is misleading, hurts the overall response and costs more lives.”
Omicron continues to sweep the world, but cases seem to have
peaked in some countries, which gives the head of the World Health Organization
(WHO) hope that the worst of this latest wave of COVID-19 is over.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, The Director-General of the World Health Organisation Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said
that more than 18 million cases were reported last week, and the pandemic
itself is far from over, so no country is out of the woods yet.
The number of deaths remains
stable, but the agency is concerned about the impact the variant is having on
already exhausted health workers and overburdened health systems. Although Omicron
may be less severe, for Dr Tedros “the narrative that it is mild is misleading,
hurts the overall response and costs more lives.”
Tedros noted that the virus is circulating far too intensely
with many still vulnerable and argued that, for many countries, the next few
weeks remain critical. He added that although vaccines may be less
effective at preventing infection and transmission of Omicron than they were
for previous variants, they still are exceptionally good at preventing serious
disease and death.”
“I remain
particularly concerned about many countries that have low vaccination rates, as
people are many times more at risk of severe illness and death if they’re unvaccinated”,
Tedros said but added that he was proud that, the UN-backed COVAX facility had
delivered its one-billionth dose of vaccine over the weekend.
For him, immunization continues to be key to protecting
hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. Dr Tedros believes that the pandemic is
nowhere near over and, with the incredible growth of Omicron, new variants are
likely to emerge.
So far, more than 7 million whole-genome sequences from 180
countries have been submitted to GISAID, a global mechanism that provides open
access to genomic data and was initially set up to track flu. Using all that
data, new formulations of vaccines are being developed and assessed for how
they perform against different strains.
Despite those efforts, Tedros is concerned that the world
will enter “a second and even more destructive phase of vaccine inequity,” if
it doesn’t change course.
Last Friday, WHO recommended two new COVID-19 treatments to
fight severe illness and death; a rheumatoid arthritis drug called baricitinib
and a monoclonal antibody called sotrovimab. For Tedros, the challenge, once
again, is that high prices and limited supply mean access is limited.
However, WHO is currently working with its partners in
ACT-Accelerator to negotiate lower prices with manufacturers and ensure supply
will be available for low- and middle-income countries.
