WHO chief optimistic disease will be beaten in 2022

[ghazi52]

WHO chief optimistic disease will be beaten in 2022

What went wrong with vaccinating the world? Three experts explain

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief says he is optimistic that the coronavirus pandemic will be defeated in 2022, provided countries work together to contain its spread.


Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu warned against "narrow nationalism and vaccine hoarding" in a new year statement.

His comments come two years since the WHO was first notified of cases of an unknown pneumonia strain in China.
Global Covid cases now stand at 287m, while nearly 5.5m people have died.

Across the world people are marking the new year but celebrations are muted, with many countries wanting to discourage crowds gathering.
Coronavirus remains part of daily life: a disease that has shut borders, split families and in some places made it unthinkable to leave the house without carrying a mask.


Despite all this, Dr Tedros sounded a positive note in his speech, noting that there are now many more tools to treat Covid-19.
But he warned that continuing inequity in vaccine distribution was increasing the risk of the virus evolving.

"Narrow nationalism and vaccine hoarding by some countries have undermined equity and created the ideal conditions for the emergence of the Omicron variant, and the longer inequity continues, the higher the risks of the virus evolving in ways we can't prevent or predict," he said.
"If we end inequity, we end the pandemic," he added.
In other developments:

• South Africa, where Omicron was first reported, has lifted an overnight curfew after announcing the country is likely to have passed the peak of new infections
• A German virologist, Christian Drosten, told ZDF television he expects a "relatively normal" winter, pointing to data suggesting that Omicron cases are not as severe
• Several countries, including the UK, Italy and Greece, reported record cases
• Thousands more flights have been cancelled, nearly half of them in the US, as airlines struggle with crew sickness
• Israel has become one of the first countries in the world to approve a fourth Covid vaccination

In his comments, Dr Tedros also alluded to low vaccination rates.

While most of the population in Europe and the Americas have received at least one dose, a WHO target of full vaccination rates in 40% of every country by the end of 2021 has been missed across most of Africa.

Dr Tedros has previously criticised wealthier nations for "gobbling up" the global vaccine supply, fully vaccinating much of their populations while others wait for their first doses.

The WHO has set a new goal for 2022: vaccinate 70% of people in all countries by July to end the pandemic.

Global vaccine rollout

Location	Percent fully vaccinated	Total doses
World	49	9,097,104,632
China	84	2,795,716,000
India	43	1,435,195,841
US	61	506,313,935
Brazil	67	330,718,457
Indonesia	41	271,240,030
Japan	78	199,596,362
Pakistan	30	153,477,237
Mexico	56	148,689,393
Vietnam	57	148,198,862
Germany	70	148,010,358
Russia	46	146,163,749
Bangladesh	27	132,282,376
UK	69	132,121,605
Turkey	61	130,571,857
France	73	122,386,879
Iran	60	116,210,697
Italy	74	109,976,998
Philippines	44	107,277,506
Thailand	65	102,681,943
South Korea	83	102,272,231
Spain	81	86,237,508
Argentina	71	75,644,660
Canada	77	68,084,993
Colombia	55	63,992,507
Malaysia	78	57,305,127
Egypt	20	52,819,190
Saudi Arabia	65	50,477,457
Morocco	62	50,265,580
Peru	63	48,228,055
Poland	56	46,549,512
Chile	86	43,713,928
Australia	76	42,272,089
Uzbekistan	33	38,864,733
Taiwan	66	34,493,865
Sri Lanka	64	33,516,336
Myanmar	24	31,859,036
Cambodia	81	30,336,200
Cuba	85	30,090,996
Venezuela	40	30,049,714
Ukraine	31	28,296,720
South Africa	26	27,850,779
Ecuador	70	27,304,608
Netherlands	71	26,595,765
United Arab Emirates	91	22,406,584
Nepal	33	21,988,516
Belgium	76	21,451,272
Portugal	89	19,229,373
Sweden	73	17,517,091
Kazakhstan	45	17,453,484
Greece	67	17,100,487
Israel	64	16,665,409
Austria	71	16,323,415
Romania	41	15,796,163
Czech Republic	62	15,335,120
Hungary	62	15,074,636
Mozambique	18	14,408,516
Nigeria	2	14,149,682
Iraq	14	14,140,578
Dominican Republic	52	14,057,252
Switzerland	67	13,663,542
Algeria	13	12,545,356
Rwanda	37	12,316,233
Denmark	78	11,993,187
Tunisia	49	11,979,466
Azerbaijan	46	11,286,004
Guatemala	25	11,247,608
Angola	11	11,164,918
Ethiopia	1	10,894,936
Hong Kong	62	9,886,743
Uganda	3	9,763,030
Kenya	7	9,739,482
Norway	72	9,691,822
Honduras	43	9,589,064
Bolivia	38	9,556,929
El Salvador	64	9,553,791
Singapore	87	9,543,800
Ireland	77	9,510,367
Finland	74	9,489,226
Jordan	38	8,265,793
Serbia	47	8,239,799
New Zealand	75	8,143,384
Nicaragua	43	7,785,141
Costa Rica	68	7,756,348
Ghana	7	7,755,231
Belarus	34	7,708,200
Turkmenistan	52	7,580,976
Zimbabwe	21	7,222,341
Uruguay	77	6,959,931
Kuwait	74	6,942,690
Paraguay	41	6,833,614
Tajikistan	28	6,287,345
Slovakia	44	6,073,488
Oman	55	6,046,310
Panama	56	5,869,229
Laos	42	5,830,021
Mongolia	65	5,337,594
Sudan	3	5,251,235
Afghanistan	9	5,228,706
Qatar	76	5,182,058
Ivory Coast	6	4,812,235
Croatia	48	4,684,781
Lebanon	27	4,351,154
Lithuania	68	4,083,697
Bulgaria	28	3,682,460
Palestinian Territories	28	3,315,774
Bahrain	67	3,212,489
Slovenia	57	2,894,044
Guinea	7	2,770,451
Libya	12	2,664,009
Latvia	67	2,542,389
Georgia	29	2,495,435
Tanzania	2	2,431,769
Togo	12	2,377,399
Albania	36	2,316,606
Senegal	5	2,269,383
Kyrgyzstan	15	2,245,084
Botswana	42	2,137,289
Mauritius	71	2,036,896
Mauritania	15	1,843,386
Benin	11	1,773,592
Moldova	24	1,770,434
Malawi	3	1,764,634
Syria	4	1,753,522
North Macedonia	39	1,741,245
Zambia	6	1,669,400
Kosovo	44	1,666,176
Armenia	23	1,626,738
Bosnia and Herzegovina	22	1,553,874
Cyprus	68	1,541,159
Estonia	62	1,515,552
Somalia	5	1,504,914
Trinidad and Tobago	47	1,397,059
Congo	10	1,295,601
Fiji	67	1,267,045
Jamaica	19	1,199,076
Timor-Leste	40	1,195,990
Bhutan	72	1,154,843
Mali	2	1,057,653
Burkina Faso	3	1,053,330
Malta	84	1,052,035
Luxembourg	68	1,045,759
Cameroon	2	986,281
Niger	2	971,636
Macau	70	970,888
Sierra Leone	5	923,880
Liberia	15	880,313
Central African Republic	7	790,782
Brunei	87	790,506
Maldives	68	788,978
Yemen	1	786,027
Guyana	40	764,898
Madagascar	2	742,069
Namibia	13	736,133
Iceland	83	715,062
Lesotho	30	688,097
Montenegro	43	630,634
Cape Verde	46	571,130
Gabon	8	566,021
Comoros	28	527,119
Papua New Guinea	2	504,018
Suriname	38	488,364
Equatorial Guinea	14	452,666
Belize	49	424,634
Guinea-Bissau	1	413,938
Eswatini	26	399,616
Chad	0.4769	366,585
Bahamas	37	300,214
Barbados	50	298,361
DR Congo	0.1147	291,286
Gambia	9	276,276
South Sudan	2	268,640
Samoa	61	263,189
Solomon Islands	8	235,918
Jersey	76	202,739
Haiti	0.6247	194,341
Seychelles	79	183,472
Isle of Man	77	177,242
Vanuatu	16	152,711
Sao Tome and Principe	23	137,612
Djibouti	3	135,032
Cayman Islands	86	130,608
Tonga	53	130,236
Antigua and Barbuda	59	120,786
Andorra	65	115,709
Bermuda	74	112,695
Gibraltar	119	108,149
Guernsey	21	106,109
Saint Lucia	27	104,729
Faroe Islands	83	95,287
Kiribati	19	82,167
Greenland	67	78,500
Grenada	31	78,476
Liechtenstein	67	62,997
St Vincent and the Grenadines	24	61,198
Dominica	38	57,044
Turks and Caicos Islands	69	56,343
Saint Kitts and Nevis	48	54,868
San Marino	64	53,942
Monaco	59	49,980
British Virgin Islands	56	35,799
Cook Islands	71	25,339
Anguilla	61	20,284
Nauru	67	14,863
Tuvalu	49	12,114
Saint Helena	58	7,892
Burundi	0.0288	7,543
Falkland Islands	50	4,407
Montserrat	30	3,020
Niue	71	2,352
Tokelau	71	1,936
Pitcairn	100	94
British Indian Ocean Territory	0	0
Eritrea	0	0
North Korea	0	0
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	0	0
Vatican	0	0

This information is regularly updated but may not reflect the latest totals or vaccines administered for each location. Total vaccinations refers to the number of doses given, and may include booster doses in addition to those required for full vaccination. The definition of full vaccination varies by location and vaccine type and is subject to change over time.

Full vaccination can refer to one dose of a one-shot vaccine, two doses of a two-dose vaccine, etc., or sometimes recovery from infection plus one dose of a vaccine. Definitions have not yet been updated to account for booster campaigns to control the spread of new variants.

Source: Our World in Data

Last updated: 30 December 2021, 12:48 GMT

 

[ghazi52]

Covid patients showing less severe symptoms, says UK vaccine minister

Britain's vaccine minister has said people being hospitalised with Covid-19 in the United Kingdom are broadly showing less severe symptoms than before, adding there was no need for further restrictions at this stage.

"At the moment, if you look at the people who have been hospitalised, they are going in with less severe conditions than before," Minister for Vaccines and Public Health Maggie Throup told Sky News, adding that the "Plan B" Prime Minister Boris Johnson brought in in December was working.

"The numbers that are in hospital beds is about half what it was a year ago — and that just shows the power of the vaccine."

People wearing protective face masks walk through Waterloo train station in London, Britain, January 3. — Reuters

 

[Titanium100]

not happening