On Tuesday afternoon, the World Health Organization (who) assured that there is no evidence that the Omicron variant causes more serious forms of Covid-19.
There is no evidence that omicron causes a more serious disease than previous covid-19 variants, and “there is no reason to doubt” the efficacy of vaccines against the new variant, said a senior official with the COVID-19. who.
“We have very effective vaccines that have proven their power against all variants so far, in terms of severity of disease and hospitalization, and there is no reason to think that it will not be like this” with omicron, explained the emergency director from the WHO, Michael Ryan.
The emergency director also pointed out that the studies are still in an early phase, since the variant was only detected on November 24. Since that date, cases have been identified in some 40 countries.
WHO is suspicious of mandatory vaccination and calls for stabilizing the pandemic
It should be noted that the organization rejected the suitability of forcing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, which it considers a “last resort”, and made a call to promote measures to stabilize the pandemic.
“The obligation regarding the vaccine is an absolute last resort and only applicable when all viable options to improve vaccination rates have been exhausted,” the director of WHO-Europe, Hans Kluge.
Although coercion has been shown to be effective in some cases, it is closely tied to the specific context, he said. Kluge, which warned of the effect it could have on the confidence of the population and was in favor of doing “everything possible” to convince people.
He also appealed to be “very prudent” before adopting discriminatory measures against the unvaccinated, which could increase internal tensions and affect mental health, although he acknowledged that these are decisions of each country.
“We have tools that allow us to protect our life and daily life, it depends on how and when to apply them. Adopting last resort measures such as confinements or discriminatory interventions is due to the fact that the tools have not been used in an appropriate way,” said the head of Emergencies from WHO-Europe, Catherine Smallwood.
Kluge believes it necessary to move from a “reaction” strategy to a stabilizing one, based on several points: boost vaccination, administer the booster dose, double the use of masks indoors, ventilate crowded spaces, increase the number of tests and adopt rigorous protocols for severe cases.
With information from AFP | EFE
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