Collective immunity: WHO does not plan to let Covid-19 circulate freely - Teller Report Teller Report Now you can see non-English news...
Collective immunity: WHO does not plan to let Covid-19 circulate freely 2020-10-13T06:39:17.317Z The WHO deemed it unthinkable on Monday to let the Covid-19, whose case fatality rate is higher than that of the flu, circulate freely so that the population has access, as some have suggested ... For the World Health Organization (WHO), the free circulation of Covid-19 is not a possible option in order to achieve collective immunity.
"Never in the history of public health has collective immunity been used as a strategy to respond to an epidemic, and even less to a pandemic.
It is scientifically and ethically problematic", declared Monday 13 October WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference.
"Giving free rein to a dangerous virus, which we do not understand everything about, is simply unethical.
It is not an option," he insisted.
Media briefing on # COVID19 with @DrTedros https://t.co/Y9iksROouM - World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) October 12, 2020 A lethality stronger than the flu The novel coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than a million lives worldwide since the WHO office in China reported the onset of the disease in late December 2019.
According to the WHO, which cites various studies epidemiologic, its case fatality rate is approximately 0.6%.
"There is a sharp increase in the case fatality rate with age, but overall it is around 0.6%," said Maria Van Kerkhove, responsible for the management of Covid-19 at the WHO, reporting : "It may not seem like much, but it is much higher than for the flu".
"The vast majority of people in most countries are susceptible to contracting this virus.
Seroprevalence surveys suggest that in most countries, less than 10% of the population has been infected," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for his part.
He also explained that the world did not know enough about the immunity enjoyed by people who contracted Covid-19, pointing out that some individuals have been newly infected.
"Most people infected with the virus develop an immune response within the first few weeks, but we don't know if this response is strong or long-lasting, or if it differs from person to person," he said.
He underlined that the concept of collective immunity is used in vaccination campaigns and he recalled that for smallpox it is necessary that 95% of the population be vaccinated so that the remaining 5% are protected.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged that "there have been discussions about the concept of achieving so-called collective immunity by letting the virus spread."
Thus, in several countries, a certain part of the population, such as in Germany, tired of the epidemic control measures put in place by governments such as the compulsory wearing of masks, loudly calls for their repeal.
But "collective immunity is obtained by protecting people against a virus, and not by exposing them to it", hammered the head of the UN agency.
About forty vaccine candidates No vaccine against Covid-19 has been approved worldwide, but several pharmaceutical companies have launched clinical trials.
"There are about 40 candidate vaccines currently in clinical trials, and 10 of them are in phase III, that is to say in the final phase, which will allow us to know both their effectiveness and safety, "WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan told reporters.
She estimated that some pharmaceutical groups may have "enough data" to submit to regulators "as early as December".
“We expect a number of trials to start providing data in early 2021”.
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