COVID-19 pandemic could come to an end by this year: WHO

The worst part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic-deaths, hospitalizations and lockdowns- could come to an end if nations come together with a plan to execute vaccination and medicines to get addressed quickly, said the head of emergencies at the World Health Organization on Tuesday.

COVID-19 pandemic could come to an end by this year: WHO

The worst part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic-deaths, hospitalizations and lockdowns- could come to an end if nations come together with a plan to execute vaccination and medicines to get addressed quickly, said the head of emergencies at the World Health Organization on Tuesday.

While speaking on a panel discussion on vaccine inequity organized by the World Economic Forum, Dr Michael Ryan said, “We may never come to an end with this virus as such viruses end up becoming part of the ecosystem.”

He said, “We still have a chance to end the public health emergency this year if we do the things that we have been talking about.”

WHO has further slammed the imbalance in COVID-19 vaccinations between rich and poor nations as an objectionable moral failure. Less than 10% of people in low-income group nations have received even one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr Ryan further added that if vaccines and other tools aren’t appropriately shared, the tragedy of the virus, which has so far taken over 5.5 million people’s lives around the world, would continue.

Ryan added, “what we need to do is to get to low levels of disease with an increasing number of vaccinations of our people so that no casualty could be recorded. Death and hospitalization is the main issue.”

He further focused on whether COVID-19 should be considered as the endemic. In contrast, nations like Spain have asked for better help to live with the virus or still a pandemic- involving intensified measures that many countries are proceeding with to tackle the spread of the virus.

“Endemic malaria has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Endemic itself does not mean good, and it just means that it’s here forever,” he said.

Meanwhile, public health officials have released a warning in which they said COVID-19 would continue to kill people, though at lower levels, even after becoming endemic.