World Health Organization’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Monday that there’s no silver bullet for a vaccine against Covid-19 pandemic.
There might never be, he told a regular press briefing in Geneva, reports UN News.
He said a number of vaccines are now in phase 3 clinical trials, and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection.
However, there is no silver bullet at the moment, and there might never be, Tedros said.
“The message to people and governments is clear: do it all,” he stated, “and when it’s under control, keep going!”
WHO Director-General Tedros urged all nations to strictly enforce health measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing and testing.
“For now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control. Testing, isolating and treating patients, and tracing and quarantining their contacts. Do it all,” he said.
“Inform, empower and listen to communities. Do it all.”
The WHO Emergency Committee on COVID-19 met Friday to review the current coronavirus pandemic at what chief Tedros called “a sobering moment”.
In Geneva, he recalled that when the Committee met three months ago, WHO had received reports of three million COVID-19 cases and more than 200,000 deaths.
“Since then,” he updated, “the number of cases has increased more than five-fold to 17.5 million, and the number of deaths has more than tripled, to 680,000.”❑
