Ghebreyesus optimistic that the pandemic will be defeated

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also spoke out against “narrow nationalism and the collection of vaccines” in his year-end speech.

Ghebreyesus spoke two years after the WHO registered the first case of coronavirus that was then believed to be an unknown pneumonia centered only in China.

Now the global number of coronavirus cases in the world reached 287 million positive cases while almost 5.5 million people died.

The coronavirus, however, remained part of everyday life: a disease which closed borders, divided families and in some parts made it impossible to leave home without a face mask.

Despite all this, Ghebreyesus was positive during his speech emphasizing that now the world has much more tools to treat COVID-19.

But once again warned that inequality in the distribution of coronavirus vaccines is increasing the risk of its evolution.

“The narrow nationalism and the collection of vaccines from some countries have deepened inequality and created ideal conditions for the explosion of the Omicron variant. “As inequality continues, there is a greater risk that the virus will evolve in ways that cannot be predicted or prevented.”

“If we end inequality, we end the pandemic,” he added.

In his speech, Ghebreyesus also mentioned the low level of vaccination in the world.

While most countries in Europe and the US have vaccinated populations with at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, the WHO target for vaccination rates to reach 40 percent in each country by the end of 2021 is almost non-existent. close to many African states.

The head of the WHO had previously criticized rich countries for “swallowing” the global supply of vaccines by fully vaccinating most citizens while others wait for the first dose.

Now the WHO has a new goal for 2022: to vaccinate 70 percent of citizens in all states by July, thus ending the pandemic.

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