COVID-19 Virtual Press conference transcript – 1 February 2022
Overview
00:00:50CL Hello and welcome to today’s press conference on updates on COVID-19 and other health emergencies. It is Tuesday, 1st February, 2022 and my name is Christian Lindmeier. We have
simultaneous translation today available in the six official UN languages, plus in Portuguese and Hindi.
Let me welcome the panel today. Of course, as always, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the Technical Lead, COVID-19, Dr Bruce Aylward, the Senior
Advisor to the Director-General and the Lead on the ACT-Accelerator. We’ll be joined also by Dr Soumya Swaminathan, our Chief Scientist. We also have here Dr Kate O’Brien, Director for Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, and we’re
being joined online by Dr Mariângela Simão, our Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products.
Let me remind you again, to get into the queue for asking questions, please raise your hand with the Raise Your Hand icon and, with this, let me hand over to the Director-General.
TAG Thank you. Thank you, Christian. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. This past Sunday marked World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day. Neglected tropical diseases affect the poorest and most marginalised
communities, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse, badly disrupting services to prevent, detect and treat them.
Nevertheless, with support from WHO and our partners, five countries eliminated a neglected tropical disease last year. Gambia and Myanmar eliminated trachoma, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo eliminated human African trypanosomiasis, and Malawi eliminated
lymphatic filariasis. And only 14 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported last year from four countries, taking us ever closer to the eradication of this ancient disease, Guinea worm.
This past Sunday also marked two years since I declared a public health emergency of international concern, the highest level of alarm under international law, over the spread of COVID-19. At the time, there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths reported
outside China. Two years later, more than 370 million cases have been reported and more than 5.6 million deaths, and we know these numbers are an underestimate.
Since Omicron was first identified just 10 weeks ago, almost 90 million cases have been reported to WHO, more than were reported in the whole of 2020. We are now starting to see a very worrying increase in deaths in most regions of the world.
00:04:19
We’re concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines, and because of Omicron’s high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible, and no longer necessary.
Nothing could be further from the truth. More transmission means more deaths. We are not calling for any country to return to so-called lockdown but we are calling on all countries to protect their people using every tool in the toolkit, not vaccines
alone.
It’s premature for any country either to surrender or to declare victory. This virus is dangerous and it continues to evolve before our very eyes. WHO is currently tracking four sub-lineages of the Omicron variant of concern, including BA.2.
This virus will continue to evolve, which is why we call on countries to continue testing, surveillance and sequencing. We can’t fight this virus if we don’t know what it’s doing and we must continue to work to ensure all people have
access to vaccines.
At the same time, it’s also clear that as this virus evolves, so vaccines may need to evolve. Variants of SARS-CoV-2 may continue to escape neutralising antibodies induced by vaccines against prior variants. In addition, the reservoir of beta coronaviruses
is large and new crossovers to humans is likely. If we prepare now, the time required for large scale vaccine manufacture will be reduced and lives will be saved.
00:06:33
On Friday last week, WHO held our latest global consultation on COVID vaccines research and on the future need for vaccines that are effective across a broad spectrum of coronaviruses.
We continue to engage with scientists from the public and private sectors to exchange the latest information and guide the future development of new vaccines. It’s one example of how, even as we support countries to fight the pandemic now, we are
also working to prepare for the future and to address its longer-term consequences.
That includes the challenge of medical waste. Today, WHO published a new report on the burden of medical waste from the pandemic, threatening human and environmental health and exposing the need to improve waste management.
Health workers and members of the public rely on huge amounts of personal protective equipment, tests, chemicals, syringes, needles, and other disposable products to protect ourselves and others but, after we have used it, most of it ends up as waste.
30% of health facilities globally and 60% in the least developed countries are not equipped to handle existing medical waste loads, let alone the additional COVID-19 load. This potentially exposes health workers to needle stick injuries, burns, infection,
and affects communities living near poorly-managed landfills and waste disposal sites.
00:08:36
The report makes a set of recommendations, including using eco-friendly packaging and shipping, safe and reusable gloves and medical masks, recyclable or biodegradable materials, and cleaner waste treatment technologies and recycling. The report is a
reminder that although the pandemic is the most severe health crisis in a century, it is connected with many other challenges that countries face.
Last week, WHO’s Executive Board met to discuss that huge range of challenges and how to address them. In particular, our Member States asked us to develop a set of proposals on strengthening the global health architecture for emergency preparedness,
response and resilience, to present to the World Health Assembly in May.
Seeing countries come together to discuss shared solutions to shared problems reminded me of our unity as one species, sharing one planet. But it also reminded me of the richness of our diversity and, in that spirit, I wish everyone who celebrates it,
a joyous Lunar New Year. Christian, back to you.
CL Thank you very much, DG. With this, we open the floor to questions from the media and we’ll start with Gunilla von Hall, from Svenska Dagbladet. Gunilla, please unmute yourself.
00:10:20
GH Thank you for taking my question. Today, Denmark is one of the first countries lifting all the COVID restrictions and Norway, Sweden are going to follow, probably in a week. Other countries are also lifting
restrictions, UK, Ireland. I’d like to have your view on this.
How advisable is it to lift the restrictions before a peak in Omicron is reached and while the spread is still massive and, as you said, there are new Omicron variants too that we do not know so much about? What’s the danger of an upsurge afterwards?
And, perhaps, if you can address too, at what point is it reasonable for countries to actually start lifting restrictions? Thank you.
CL Thank you, Gunilla. We’ll start with Dr Maria Van Kerkhove.
MK Thanks for the question. In the last seven days more 22 million cases were reported to WHO, largely driven by the Omicron variant, this variant of concern that is circulating the globe. We know that case
reporting is an underestimate and it’s not a great proxy for really understanding virus circulation at the moment.
What is more concerning right now, for me and I think for us, is that in the last four weeks we’re seeing a sharp increase in deaths around the world and in all regions. Two regions are relatively stable, in terms of the numbers of deaths that they’ve
reported in the last week but four regions are reporting increasing trends in deaths and that shouldn’t be happening at the present time when we have tools that can actually prevent this.
What WHO has continued to recommend is the use of the tools we have at hand. Countries are in very different situations around the world. We have no one solution that fits all. What our recommendations are is to apply the tools to handle two aspects of
this virus, this dangerous virus that is circulating.
00:12:21
One is to increase vaccination coverage so that we protect individuals from developing severe disease and death and we get patients into the clinical pathway because early clinical care saves lives and, at the same time, do what we can to reduce the spread
of this virus using tools that are readily available, masks, physical distancing, improving and investing in ventilation where we live, where we work, where we study. Supporting people to work at home. Investing in surveillance and testing.
All of that still applies. Now, how countries use these tools is up to them but we are urging caution because many countries have not gone through the peak of Omicron yet. Many countries have low levels of vaccination coverage with very vulnerable individuals
within their populations and so now is not the time to lift everything all at once.
We have always urged caution in applying interventions as well as lifting those interventions in a steady and in a slow way, piece by piece, because this virus is quite dynamic and we still have a lot to learn from it. Even though we know a lot about
it, we still don’t know all.
So, our advice is to use a comprehensive approach and to use the tools that are at hand. Again, countries are going to have to apply that to the situation that they’re in, taking into consideration the spread of the virus, the population level immunity
that they have in terms of past infection, as well as vaccination coverage, and in particular coverage among those who are most at risk, their capacities to respond, the relationship they have with the people within their communities.
00:14:07
All of those are factors that countries have to take into consideration. We have no one-solution-fits-all but we are urging countries to continue to use the tools at hand to reduce the spread as well as reduce morbidity and mortality from this virus.
CL Dr Ryan.
MR Thanks, Maria. I think the countries you mentioned are able to put themselves in a position to make a decision like this because they have very high background levels of vaccination and it really comes
from that confidence, that having the vast majority of your population protected, particularly your most vulnerable. Countries in this situation get more choices because you get to come down a different way from the mountain.
The problem is everyone is on a different part of the slopes of this pandemic mountain and we need to be really, really careful in this situation that one country just doesn’t blindly follow the next because that’s one way you can fall. Every
country has to find its feet, know where it is, know where it wants to go and chart its path.
00:15:18
You can look to the experience of others, you can look at what other countries are doing but please don’t just follow blindly what every other country is doing. Chart your own path, as Maria said, based on your current epidemiology, your demographics,
your population at risk, your vaccination levels, your population immunity, your access to tools, the strength of your health service. And, each country can chart a path out of the pandemic by taking that approach.
Again, the countries that you mentioned have very high levels of vaccination, very, very strong health systems. And, yes, there is a calculation here and every country has been trying to make this calculation right since the beginning of this pandemic.
How do we have maximum protection of our population while minimising the impact on our society and economy?
At the beginning of this pandemic, without a vaccine, a lot of that was based on having strong public health and social measures. What’s happening is high vaccination levels are beginning to give countries more choice when it comes to the stringency
and the severity of those measures, but those measures may still be needed and certainly individuals need to be left with a choice themselves.
And, certainly, there are many, many people in my own personal view who would be well-advised to continue wearing masks in crowded situations in public transport, even if it is not mandated by government. There are people who will want to make that choice
and it is very important that we let people make that choice because they are trying to protect themselves and ultimately protect others as well.
00:16:52
So, I think it’s a transition phase for many countries. Not every country in the same situation. Those countries who are making decisions to open up more broadly also need to be sure they have the capacity to reintroduce measures with community
acceptance quickly if needed.
If you open the doors quickly, you had better be pretty well able to close it very quickly as well and therefore it’s important that we keep communities informed and maybe ensure that communities understand that measures may have to be reintroduced
in order to moderate transmission if there is an unexpected rise in transmission or if, as Maira has alluded to, a new variant emerges.
So, flexibility, agility, the ability to adjust, making good decisions based on your situation and being ready to change that as needed. I think all countries will find a way out, so we should be, in some ways, celebrating when countries get to another
stage of disease control but at the same time being cautious and know that not all paths are straight.
CL Thank you very much, both. Next question goes to Corinne Gretler, from Bloomberg. Corinne, please unmute yourself.
CG Hi. Thanks for taking my question. South Africa has dropped the isolation requirement for people who test positive for COVID but are asymptomatic. Do you know other countries that have done so and,
from an epidemiological standpoint, is it a safe thing to do?
00:18:33
CL Dr Van Kerkhove.
MK Thanks for the question. We are constantly looking at data as it emerges on all of these variants and our understanding of the epidemiology. How does this virus spread and what do we know about that?
We have recently looked at data that is available on the Omicron variant in particular as it compares to other variants of concern and looking at the infectious period of when people are infected with the virus and when they are able to pass the virus
to others.
We look at this in terms of severity, whether people have symptoms or not through their disease progressions. We look at if there are any other factors, underlying conditions, immunocompromised, etc. Our understanding of transmission with the Omicron
variant is very similar to what we know about the other variants of concern in terms of when people transmit the virus.
Most people still transmit the virus right around the time they develop symptoms, from about two days before symptom onset, up through the first five to nine days if you’re mild. It can be longer if you have severe disease and it could be even longer
if you are immunocompromised.
Asymptomatic individuals can transmit the virus as well. So, what we do, as WHO, as an evidenced-based organisation, we issue guidance to give countries the information that they need to set the policies that they need for isolation of confirmed cases,
for quarantine of contacts of those confirmed cases.
00:20:03
But, there’s a difference between what guidance says, in terms of the evidence and the policies that are made. The reason I mention that is because our recommendation for isolation is to prevent onward transmission and as much of that onward transmission
as possible.
But, in some countries what they have to do is they have to shorten the isolation period or the quarantine period when they take into consideration other factors, the risk of onward spread but also the fact that in the context of having so many cases
of Omicron and so many contacts of cases of Omicron, that there’s a large number of people who are in isolation or quarantine.
So, when they set those policies, they’re making changes to shorten the isolation period or the quarantine period because they need to keep other operations going, and there’s risks and there’s benefits to that. For Omicron, we do know
that people who are asymptomatic can spread the virus but most of the people who transmit, it is really right around the time of symptom onset.
So, there’s some pros and cons that are associated with those policies that countries are implementing but, as I said, a lot of the reasons why these policies differ is because the decision-makers have to set the pros and cons of keeping other services
functioning.
00:21:27
CL Thank you very much, Dr Van Kerkhove. Next question goes to Simon Ateba, from Today News Africa. Simon, please unmute yourself.
SA Thank you for taking my question. This is Simon Ateba, with Today News Africa in Washington DC and congratulations to Dr Tedros for his second term in office as you guys continue to battle COVID-19.
My question is to Drs Maria Van Kerkhove, Mike Ryan and Kate O’Brien. Drs, are you concerned that you’re on the brink of losing most of your political allies, from the US, to Canada, to the UK and elsewhere with massive losses in the upcoming
elections because of the confusion around COVID-19 and the inability of those politicians to understand that life should move on with vaccination?
For instance, what will your answers be to those who ask this question? Why should we keep wearing face masks when we are all fully vaccinated and boosted? What guarantee do we have that new variants will not continue to emerge? How long will we keep
wearing face masks and killing social life and businesses? I thought you told us vaccines work. Do they work? Do they not work? And, when will life return to normal?
Are pharmaceutical companies and doctors like yourself, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson just trying to pushing yearly vaccination to make more money? Thank you.
CL Thank you, Simon. It’s a good point for me to remind everybody, please just stick to one question, not to a catalogue. We also went through part of this already in the first question but I think
we’ll give it a shot. Dr Mike Ryan.
00:23:18
MR Thank you, Simon. You asked a lot of questions there. You also gave a lot of your own answers. I struggle to respond because there are so many issues that you raised but I do think within what you’ve
said there’s a validity in recognising that people in many situations now really want clarity around what is the best thing for them to do for themselves, for their families. How do we get out of this pandemic together? How do we end the emergency
phase and how can we all get back to some semblance of normal?
The difficulty is that that’s a very different question and a different answer, depending on where you happen to sit in the world. If you have to happen to sit in a Western industrialised country with a strong health system, with access to vaccine
for the last 18 months or the vast majority of your population have had two if not three doses vaccine, and you have access to antivirals and a strong primary healthcare system and everyone to a hospital and oxygen when they need it, then you might
be very close to ending the emergency phase of this pandemic.
There are many places where that is not the case, where vaccination levels are still very low, where we have weak health systems, where people haven’t had access to vaccines, haven’t had access to antivirals, haven’t had access to oxygen
and they still remain at great risk from this virus.
After two years of a pandemic response, the inequities of this response, both within countries and between countries, are still stark. So, from that perspective, each person, depending on where they sit, needs to probably ask a different question.
00:25:03
The individuals in this, and everyone has been affected by the restrictions, the restriction of not being able to move around or having to wear a mask but the sacrifices in that have been done to save many lives, they’ve been done to protect health
systems, they’ve been done as a community, they’ve been done with pride and honour by so many communities around the world as a means to save so many lives.
As we look at the collective sacrifices that have been made, a lot has been sacrificed by individuals but a lot has been gained by society in terms of the lives saved and the protection of the health system.
So, we should praise our communities and we should recognise what they have sacrificed but also not to say to them that their sacrifice has been without worth or that we should never have had these things in place. We shouldn’t have had that physical
distance and we shouldn’t have had to wear masks.
The fact is we did and we needed to and lives were saved. Now, we have to chart a path where we can begin to lift those restrictions but we need to do it carefully and we need to do it transparently and we need to tell our populations that we’re
doing it for this reason, because we have taken these other measures.
00:26:25
My greatest fear at the moment, to be quite honest, Simon, is that countries have a lemming syndrome now and they all chase to open up, and they open up on the basis that the country next door opened and the problem is they don’t have the same situation,
they don’t have the same vaccine coverage, they don’t have a strong health system.
I’m really fearful that while some countries have the opportunity to raise measures more than others, others may choose that because there is political pressure to do that and that political pressure will result in some countries opening prematurely
and that will result in unnecessary transmission, unnecessary severe disease and unnecessary death. Bruce, do you want to come in?
BA Thanks, Mike. Simon, it was just to one of the points you made at the beginning about the support of countries for the work that the group here is doing and WHO in general. It just reminded me a
little bit, we spent the last week with the Executive Board of WHO, which brings together the Executive Board itself but also the broad 194 Member States that work with the World Health Organization.
There was an extraordinary display of support for the Director-General, for how he has managed the COVID response, how he is leading that and also in terms of the role that the organisation needs to play as it goes forward.
00:27:50
So, I think to the very first question that you asked, it really drove home just how this has affected everyone, all countries, as Mike alluded to, but also the support and recognition that the world needs a very strong World Health Organization, a strong
consensus among countries to that effect, and an organisation that is enabled in terms of its financing, its staffing, etc, to play that central coordinating role in crises like this as they go forward.
Yes, there will always be tensions. Yes, there will always be stresses. It is difficult for everyone but to that very first question, I think the organisation right now has tremendous support of its Member States and it is that solidarity which is going
to be crucial across the Member States to get out of this.
CL We have Dr Kate O’Brien, as well.
KO A couple of points that I’d like to add to the multifaceted question that you asked. The first is that you asked what would we say to people who are still hearing about the need for face masks and
the other interventions. We and others have been clearly communicating about vaccines.
Vaccines work. They especially work when people get the vaccines that are offered to them. We know that for people who are hospitalised in countries that have wide access to vaccines, the vast majority of those people are unvaccinated individuals. So,
we still have a huge issues, even in countries that have had for many, many months, broad, unfettered access to highly effective vaccines, and people have not gotten their doses.
00:29:43
I think one of the most important things is that there remain a large number of very vulnerable people who are subject to a lot of false information and misinformation that’s resulting in them making decisions to not receive what is a lifesaving
intervention.
We also know that in countries that have not had access to those vaccines, there’s a long way for those countries to go now that supply is more available for those who are most vulnerable to be vaccinated.
So, I think we want to emphasise again and again that the vaccines are working for Omicron. The evidence for the importance of booster doses for the highest priority groups I think is quite clear. And, that we still have 30 countries that have not yet
been able to get to even 10% of their population vaccinated, not because they don’t want to, not because they can’t but because for many, many months in 2021, vaccine was inaccessible to them and that’s a really changing dynamic.
I think the other thing to say is that these vaccines are not perfect. They’ve never been perfect but the more people who receive vaccines that are interrupting, they are protecting against especially the most severe end of the disease spectrum
and they are performing against infection and transmission, although imperfectly.
But, the more people get those vaccines, the more impact there will be on reducing transmission. So, I think those are the sort of hopeful messages, that we have incredible tools available and the access to those tools is becoming greater and greater,
over ten billion doses now administered and more and more vaccines, every month, as we go forward.
00:31:38
So, I think this the message, along with all of the other things that people can do to keep themselves safe as we work our way out of this part of the pandemic.
CL Thank you. We also have Dr Soumya Swaminathan.
SS Sorry. I know that we were supposed to have one question and one answer but I think that you raised a number of important things. What I wanted to pick off, what Kate was saying, was about the amount
of misinformation that is circulating around one of the issues that you raised and that is that the vaccines are not working, people are still getting infected.
I think that the vaccine sceptics or the anti-vaxxers are using that actually to fuel a belief that these vaccines, we should just give it up because you’re going to get infected anyway, and that’s very far from the truth.
I think Kate did explain that these vaccines are working very well and there’s more and more data coming out. Even yesterday and today there were new papers showing that the cell-mediated responses, the T cell immunity is holding up surprisingly
well, even with this Omicron variant, with so many mutations, and therefore the originally-developed vaccines are still working to prevent severe disease and death, which is what we want, even though they may not be as good at preventing infection.
00:33:05
But, we are already one step ahead. The DG mentioned that we continue to have consultations but last Friday there was an amazing meeting that was organised by the R&D Blueprint here, the team here, which had over 1,300 people attending from all over
the world with a very healthy and robust debate on the future of vaccines, the next generation of vaccines.
How can we make better vaccines, not only to protect against infection, which means you want to generate some mucosal immunity as well, but also vaccines that can protect a broader array of coronaviruses, what are called sarbecoviruses, so that we are
prepared for future variants?
So, while we must continue to vaccinate people with the excellent and existing vaccines, we’re already looking at the next generation, how to be better and perhaps even one day have a universal coronavirus vaccine that will protect us against all
known coronaviruses. Thank you.
CL Thank you. Thank you very much, all. Next question goes to Maria Cheng, from the AP. Maria, please unmute yourself.
MC Hi. Thanks very much for taking my question. Dr Tedros, thanks for your New Year wishes. Kung Hei Fat Choi to everyone there too. I have a question related to a story the AP published last week. Given
that WHO has yet to fire any senior management staff who were aware of the sex abuse in Congo, even after evidence was published, would Dr Tedros consider terminating Dr Kasai’s contract amid the racism and abuse allegations we reported last
week, as some member countries have suggested should happen? Thank you.
00:34:52
CL Thank you, Maria. Let me take that because, as the DG has said at the Executive Board meeting, WHO has been made aware of some of the concerns since late 2021 and we have been following-up. WHO is committed
to a respectful and safe working environment across all three levels of the organisation and we will take firm action, including disciplinary and other appropriate measures if staff, whatever their rank, is found to have engaged in abusive conduct.
Thank you. With this, we go to the next question and that goes to Juliette Perreard, from Nikkei. Juliette, please unmute yourself.
JP Hi. Thanks for taking my question. My question is regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and I was wondering if researches on origin are still going on and if the international team have planned
to go back to Wuhan in China where the outbreak took place? Would it be possible to have an update on it?
CL Juliette, we had a very bad echo on the room. I’m looking around, if people understood your question. Maybe you can try the key question again and go a bit off the microphone. Maybe that’s
the reason why it echoed so much.
JP Can you hear me now?
CL We hear you but it’s a bad echo.
JP Okay, I will try. My question is regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
00:36:36
CL You think you understand? Okay, Maria Van Kerkhove will give it a try.
MK Thank you. Sorry. It was a bad echo in here. We wanted to make sure we understood your question. Yes, there is quite a bit of work that is ongoing to better understand the origins of this pandemic, the
SARS-CoV-2 virus.
As you know, we as WHO, we established a new scientific advisory group called the SAGO, the Scientific Advisory Group on the Study of the Origins of Novel Pathogens. This was initiated over the summer and over the last series of months we have formed
this scientific advisory group.
We have 27 excellent advisors from all over the world with many different disciplines that are working with us to better understand what is next and what is needed to better understand the origins of this pandemic, as well as to outline a framework for
the study of each and every time we have an event where there is a known pathogen that spills over from animals to humans or there is a new virus or a new pathogen that emerges.
The SAGO has met several times. In fact, we’ve had about six meetings of the SAGO, itself. We have a chair and a vice-chair that are running these meetings and the secretariat is supporting this. The work is very dynamic in terms of what they are
focused on.
They are focused on three things right now. One is the overarching elements of a framework for the study of any emerging pathogen. Second, is look at what is our current understanding of the origins of this particular pandemic, building upon previous
missions that have gone to China and worked with Chinese scientists, the last of which published a report in March 2021. Then, looking at all of the literature and evidence that exists to really look at the studies that have been conducted since that
team came back.
00:38:28
This group is currently working on their first set of recommendations to WHO. As a scientific advisory group, their job is to make recommendations to the secretariat for what is needed next and what they will be focusing on and what are the real urgent
needs in terms of the studies that are necessary.
What they are looking at are the early epidemiologic studies. What do we know about those earliest suspected and known cases that were reported in China? What is known about animal susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 of different species that can be infected
with this virus? What is known about animal trade? What is known about SARS-CoV-like viruses in bats anywhere in the world? What is known about any of the earliest indications of detection of this virus, either in wastewater samples or stored clinical
specimens or sera from anywhere in the world?
They are compiling all of that information right now to outline what are the current next steps. We are expecting their report in the coming weeks. We will be reporting that to our Member States first and then that report will be made public, but there
is certainly a lot to do. Many more studies are necessary to really understand the emergence of this virus.
00:39:47
We, as WHO, won’t stop until we exhaust all avenues to better understand this but what I can say is that the group is working very hard. I can say that there is a lot more to be done and, as we learn more, we will report that to you. So, it is a
work in progress but it is really critical that we continue to look for the origins of this particular pandemic as well as prepare for any future ones.
CL Thank you very much, Dr Van Kerkhove. Next question goes to Erin Banco, from Politico. Erin, please unmute yourself.
EB Hi, all. Thank you so much for doing this. Just a quick question for any of you who want to answer. Is the WHO goal of vaccinating 70% of the world’s population by mid-2022 still an attainable
goal? If not, why not, and can you speak to some of the barriers we’re still seeing for getting low and middle-income countries vaccinated? Thanks.
CL Thank you very much. Dr Kate O’Brien, please.
KO Thanks so much for that question. As you know, the vaccine strategy did lay out a goal that by the end of June 70% coverage, not only globally but in every country, so as to really express the equity
of coverage. The objective was not strictly just a global goal, where some countries were very far ahead and other countries very far behind.
We’re supporting countries very intensively in their efforts to achieve those goals and the interim targets. The interim milestones of 10% by the end of September and 40% by the end of December are ones that I think have been extremely helpful for
countries to both set out these target by which they could then achieve those ambitions.
00:41:44
We do see that, of course, there are countries that are still far behind, 30 countries that haven’t yet reached the 10% target and, as of yesterday, 83 countries that were below the 40% target by the end of 2021.
So, in these countries there’s a lot of work to do but I want to point out that these are all countries, with very few exceptions, that have achieved massive coverage goals for other vaccine purposes, these are all countries, especially in the Africa
region, that have gotten rid of polio and they’ve done that through massive campaigns of polio vaccine.
These are also countries that are controlling other diseases, other vaccine-preventable diseases through the use of vaccines and deployment through large campaigns, meningitis type A, certainly measles, yellow fever, many other campaigns that are carried
out.
So, these are countries that know how to stand up campaigns but there are a number of impediments and, first and foremost, the impediment has been that we can’t look at just the past two months or three months of vaccine supply as if that vaccine
supply had been present throughout the course of 2021. This is a recent change, that countries now have access to supply in a way that they can do adequate planning for large campaigns to secure this rapid increase in the absorption rate of turning
vaccines into vaccinations, going from airports to arms.
00:43:20
So, there is a lot of work to be done by countries. These are also for some countries, those that have real constraints on the number of healthcare workers that they have and a number of other elements that are necessary in order to stand up large campaigns
that will assure that the people who most need the vaccines are vaccinated.
We’re also watching carefully and supporting countries to assure that as much as possibly can be done, that the priority populations are going first, and that means healthcare workers. As we’ve looked with countries across the immunisation
of healthcare workers, we’re seeing a very substantial increase in the number of healthcare workers who are vaccinated as well as the older populations, however a country is defining that, that may be over 60 or over 65.
However, some of the barriers for these countries include access to funding in order to actually deploy the campaigns that they are so able to plan and deploy and that means getting funding when and where it is needed, at the district level, at the clinic
level, so that the actual healthcare workers and the things that are needed in order to stand up a campaign are adequately funded.
It also means doing really good planning, so that the healthcare workers that are deploying vaccines are not taken away from other essential services and again we’re supporting with an intensification of the operational support to the countries
that are most in need of operational support, along with our sister organisation UNICEF, along with Gavi, along with the World Bank, along with the African Union, the Africa CDC and all partners in all regions where there are countries that are far
behind.
00:45:15
We are very confident that the supply, as long as no substantial step-backs are made from providing supply, that we would really like to see and we are very hopeful that the supply will continue in a way that allows countries to achieve these objectives.
COVAX is continuing to deploy hundreds of millions of doses, both this month, next month and in the months to come to assure that there is that supply available to countries. So, we are optimistic that especially those who are in the highest risk and
the high risk categories will have vaccination in a timely fashion.
TAG Thank you. Thank you for that question. It is very important and Kate has really covered it but I just would like to add a bit to the question you asked, whether 70% by mid-2022 is possible or not? It’s
not only possible, it’s more than possible to achieve that target.
That’s why I hope you may remember many times I said ending this pandemic is not a matter of chance, it’s a matter of choice. So, if we make the choice of delivering the 70%, which is within capacity, then we can end the pandemic. We hope
countries will deliver on this, especially the countries who can contribute in terms of giving support to the countries who cannot have or who don’t have access to vaccines.
00:47:20
The last few months, as Kate said, we’re seeing progress and, as you know, COVAX has now delivered more than a billion doses and we expect constant flow but, still, I don’t want to go into what Kate said. There are still challenges that we
need to address but the world has the capacity to reach not only 70%, even beyond that by mid-2022.
So, that’s why we say it’s a matter of choice and I think the world should choose to vaccinate 70%. This pandemic, as you know, everybody is sick and tired and Simon’s question was exactly that and the world cannot stay this way any
longer. We have to end it and we have the means to end it. Thank you.
CL Thank you very much. Next question goes to Robin Millard, from AFP. Robin, please unmute yourself.
RM Thank you. A question about the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron that Dr Tedros mentioned. What do we know about this BA.2 strain? Is it gaining ground? Is it more transmissible than BA.1 Omicron and is it
something that people around the world should be a bit more concerned about? Thank you.
CL Thank you, Robin. We’ll start with Dr Van Kerkhove.
MK Thanks. BA.2 is one of the sub-lineages of Omicron, so BA.2 is Omicron and it is a variant of concern. It is in the family of the variants of concern around Omicron. I think what is really important is
that we have really good surveillance around the world so that we better understand all of the sub-variants of Omicron.
00:49:18
What we understand about most of the sequences that available and most of the research that is available is on the sub-variant BA.1 but the incidence of BA.2, the prevalence of this in some countries, is increasing and in particular we have some information
in Denmark and in India where BA.2 is increasing in terms of its circulation.
There’s not a lot of information that we have on this particular sub-variant yet but, because it is part of this package of Omicron, we do know obviously that there is increased growth rate compared to other variants of concern.
There is a suggestion that some of the initial data on BA.2 is that there is a slight increase in growth rate above BA.1 but beyond that the data is really quite limited. For people out there, we need people to be aware that this virus is continuing to
circulate and it is continuing to evolve.
That’s why it is really important that we take measures to reduce our exposure to this virus, whatever variant is circulating, and Omicron is becoming dominant worldwide. It’s overtaking Delta in a number of countries and around the world.
And, we also take the vaccine when it’s our turn, so that we could reduce the opportunity to develop severe disease and death.
Vaccines, as you keep hearing us say, the vaccines are incredibly effective at preventing severe disease and death and this is true for Omicron, all of its sub-variants. So, we are working with literally thousands of experts around the world to be able
to track and trace this virus and its sub-lineages, including BA.2.
00:50:58
We are working with researchers around the world, so that we better understand the studies that are underway to look at any potential changes in terms of our understanding of how this virus spreads or severity.
There’s no indication that there’s a change in severity. Again, Omicron overall we know is more transmissible. It has more growth advantage and it causes less severe disease compared to Delta, but it’s still a very dangerous virus. So,
it’s quite a dynamic situation where we’re getting information in real time.
We’re using that information across all our technical advisory groups, our Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution, our Technical Advisory Group on Vaccine Composition, the SAGE, and many different working groups to assess these variants.
But, I think, for the general public what is important is that you understand, whatever this virus and variant that is circulating, you have tools that can keep you safe and this is the main message we want to get out there. Get the vaccine when it is
your turn and make sure that you take steps to lower your exposure to this virus through your daily activities. So, as we learn more about BA.2 we will share that through our various channels.
CL Dr Mike Ryan, please.
00:52:16
MR Just to add, that we’re in a new era, really, in our capacity collectively to track viruses like this. In days gone by we probably wouldn’t even know there were new lineages until we saw an
impact in a community and we’d be going back to try and work out what was going on. That was often the way we found things out.
What we’re able to do now is prospective. We’re able to look at the virus as it changes its genotype, it’s genetics, and we’re trying to predict how it will behave in the real world, its phenotype, and beginning to look for signals
of shifts in the behaviour of the virus in terms of transmission or virulence or vaccine escape.
That gives us the agility, then, to shift and move our measures, shift and move and strengthen our health system. So, we should see this as a real advance in scientific collaboration and the ability to do predictive analytics and to build that collaborative
intelligence that we all need to be able to better understand the risks associated with these emergences.
But, that’s very different for the ordinary person in the street that doesn’t need to wake up every morning and worry about BA.1 and BA.2, that there are more numbers out there. That is not what should concern people. I think what people should
be reassured by is that there is a really wonderful group of scientific institutions all over the world who are collaborating every single hour of every single day.
They are tracking these variants, they are tracking the sub-lineages and they are going to know in good time if the behaviour of the virus is changing and that will allow us to make good decisions in public health and policy.
00:53:48
That should reassure people more than what is a genuine concern when we hear new names of new lineages and new variants. We have to balance that concern with the reassurance that comes with knowing that the scientific community has advanced probably more
in the last two or three years in this area than it did in the previous two decades. That should reassure people.
CL Thank you very much, Dr Ryan and Dr Van Kerkhove. With this, we come to the end of our briefing today. Apologies to those journalists, and there are quite some, whose questions we couldn’t take.
There’s a long list today but we’re glad that so many of you are interested.
Again, thank you for your participation. We will be sending the audio files and Dr Tedros’ remarks right after the press conference and the full transcript will be hosted on the WHO website tomorrow. With this, let me hand over to the DG for the
final remarks.
TAG Thank you. Thank you, Christian, and thank you to those who have joined us today, and see you next time.