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"The advantage of the vaccine is that we can very significantly reduce the number of deaths, serious cases and the impact on society in general, and in that sense we could return to a normal life," says the director of Health Emergencies of WHO, Mike Ryan.
Coronavirus vaccines will not serve to eradicate Covid-19, but rather to reduce mortality and serious infections that end in hospitalizations, a senior official at the World Health Organization (WHO) said this Monday.
“The advantage of the vaccine is that we can very significantly reduce the number of deaths, serious cases and the impact on society in general, and in that sense we could return to a normal life,” said the director of Health Emergencies of the WHO, Mike Ryan, without predicting a deadline for this.
The hope that the new disease could disappear with the vaccine has been left behind by several factors, including the presence of the coronavirus in so many countries, the impossibility of applying comprehensive and long-term measures to contain infections and the still very limited supply of the vaccines.
The challenge is enormous if we consider that humanity has only managed to eradicate one disease from the planet: smallpox.
“Vaccine coverage will not reach the point where it will stop transmission completely. The most likely thing is that the disease will remain present for a long time, unless the (prevention) measures and the vaccination coverage that would be required are met,” the expert stressed in a press conference.
He warned that if some groups are left out of vaccination, particularly young adults, “then we will have problems eradicating this disease.”
“I don't think we have to look at eliminating or eradicating this virus as the measure of our success. “We will be successful if we reduce the ability of this virus to kill, put people in the hospital, and destroy our lives economically,” he explained.
Ryan said the realistic goal should be to control the virus “and not for the virus to control us.”
To this end, the WHO defends the need for there to be an equitable distribution of the available vaccines so that they are used in the groups most exposed to the coronavirus, health workers, the elderly and those who suffer from chronic ailments, in all countries and not only in those that have reached direct agreements with the pharmaceutical companies that are producing the vaccines.
