Africa: WHO Director General’s opening remarks at the COVID-19 press conference – July 12, 2021

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Geneva –

  • Last week marked the fourth consecutive week of an increase in COVID-19 cases worldwide, with increases recorded in all six WHO regions except one. And after 10 weeks of decline, deaths are increasing again.
  • The Delta variant is circling the world at a breakneck pace, leading to yet another spike in cases and deaths. Delta is now present in over 104 countries and we expect it to soon become the dominant strain of COVID-19 circulating around the world.
  • The global gap in vaccine supply is extremely uneven and inequitable. Over the weekend, G20 finance ministers recognized the importance of funding the ACT accelerator so the world can ensure that tests, treatments and vaccines are distributed fairly and hopefully this will translate into quickly to close the $ 16 billion funding gap.
  • AstraZeneca has led the approval of its vaccines worldwide to rapidly increase immunization capacity. In addition to Europe, India and South Korea, I am pleased to announce two more manufacturing sites, in Japan and Australia, which have now received an emergency use list. WHO, bringing AstraZeneca’s EUL number to five. We need other manufacturers to follow this example.

Hello, good afternoon and good evening.

Last week marked the fourth consecutive week of an increase in COVID-19 cases worldwide, with increases recorded in all six WHO regions except one.

And after 10 weeks of decline, deaths are increasing again.

We continue to hear reports from all parts of the world about hospitals reaching capacity.

The Delta variant is circling the world at a breakneck pace, leading to yet another spike in cases and deaths.

However, not all suffer the same blow, we are in the midst of a growing two-track pandemic where the haves and have-nots within and between countries are increasingly divergent.

In places with high immunization coverage, Delta spreads rapidly; by infecting in particular the unprotected and vulnerable and by regularly putting pressure on health systems.

For health workers who have been fighting a titanic battle for over a year and who have record waiting lists, increasing hospitalizations at all levels is a challenge for them and their patients and for the overall capacity of the system. health.

As countries lift public health and social measures, they must consider the impact on health workers and health systems.

In countries with low immunization coverage, the situation is particularly bad.

Delta and other highly transmissible variants lead to waves of catastrophic cases, which translate into high numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

Even countries that managed to fend off the first waves of the virus, only through public health measures, are now in the midst of devastating epidemics.

Particularly in low-income countries, exhausted health workers are fighting to save lives amid shortages of personal protective equipment, oxygen and treatment.

Vaccines alone have never been the way out of this crisis, but this current wave demonstrates once again how powerful they are in the fight against this virus.

Delta is now present in over 104 countries and we expect it to soon become the dominant strain of COVID-19 circulating around the world.

The world watches in real time as the COVID-19 virus continues to change and becomes more and more transmissible.

My message today is that we are experiencing a worsening public health emergency that further threatens lives, livelihoods and a strong global economic recovery.

It is certainly worse in places that have very few vaccines, but the pandemic is nowhere over.

The current collective strategy reminds me of a team of firefighters tackling a forest fire.

Watering some of it can reduce flames in an area, but while it smolders anywhere, sparks will eventually travel and grow again in a roaring oven.

The world should fight together to end this pandemic hell everywhere.

The global gap in vaccine supply is extremely uneven and inequitable.

Some countries and regions are actually ordering millions of booster doses, before other countries have had supplies to immunize their health workers and the most vulnerable.

I ask you, who would put firefighters on the front line without protection?

Who are most vulnerable to the flames of this pandemic?

Frontline health workers, the elderly and the vulnerable.

We are making conscious choices right now so as not to protect those who need it most; our own firefighters.

Currently, data shows us that vaccination provides lasting immunity against severe and fatal COVID-19.

The priority must now be to vaccinate those who have not received any dose and protection.

Instead of Moderna and Pfizer prioritizing the provision of vaccines as booster shots to countries with relatively high coverage populations, we need them to make every effort to route the supply to COVAX, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition. Task Team and low and middle income countries, which have very low immunization coverage.

Over the weekend, G20 finance ministers recognized the importance of funding the ACT accelerator so the world can ensure that tests, treatments and vaccines are distributed fairly and hopefully this will translate into quickly to close the $ 16 billion funding gap.

Tens of millions of donated vaccine doses are starting to arrive, but we need more and we need them faster.

We need accelerated, no-regrets construction of new vaccine manufacturing centers.