WHO director says Sputnik V is still under review and doesn’t know when it will be approved

The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Friday that the approval of the Russian vaccine against the Sputnik V coronavirus is a technical decision by the group of specialists studying it, and that he cannot predict when it will be adopted.

“This is a group that works independently and will deliver its conclusions once its work is completed,” Ghebreyesus told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum by videoconference, responding to a question about the approval of the Russian vaccine by the ‘WHO. a question of “weeks and months”.

In his speech, he stressed that the appearance of the coronavirus vaccines “showed the light at the end of the tunnel”, but stressed the need for them to reach all countries of the world.

Recall that Sputnik is one of the vaccines on which Argentina has built its vaccination campaign against the coronavirus. On top of that, the country will start producing them locally as early as next week.

WHO, he added, has set itself the goal of Next September, 10% of the population of each country will be vaccinated and 30% by the end of the year.

“No one is safe until we are all safe,” said Ghebreyesus, stressing the need for joint efforts to fight the pandemic.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko has indicated that vaccinating 30-40% of the population does not confer herd immunity.

He added that some specialists consider that this immunity can only be achieved with the 80-90% vaccination, although he clarified that this is not the official position of his portfolio.

At the end of March, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that September of this year 70% of Russians could be vaccinated.

However, the vaccination campaign in Russia is progressing slowly due to the reluctance of its residents.

According to Murashko, to date they have been vaccinated with the almost complete regimen 15 million Russians, just over 70 percent of the population.

In another panel of the Forum devoted to the pandemic, WHO emergency program director Michael Ryan warned in a telematic response that despite the decrease in COVID-19 cases, the situation “It’s still complex and the risks are very high”.

“The pandemic continues to be a serious disaster. Important steps must be taken by all countries. No one can relax and we must prepare for a future pandemic. If we do not prepare, we will have to pay a heavy price, ”he warned.

Ryan said that over the past five weeks in parts of the world, such as Asia and Central America, there has been a significant increase in infections.

He also highlighted the risks of unequal distribution of vaccines between states, as well as social inequality in the provision of health services within a single country, which he believes may be due to mismanagement.

Source: EFE