Vaccinating children against COVID not priority from WHO perspective: Vaccines expert
World | June 04, 2021 14:31 ISTThe World Health Organisation's top vaccines expert says that immunising children against the coronavirus “is not a high priority”
The World Health Organisation's top vaccines expert says that immunising children against the coronavirus “is not a high priority”
WHO recommends that countries using the Sinovac vaccine in older age groups conduct safety and effectiveness monitoring to verify the expected impact and contribute to making the recommendation more robust for all countries.
Member (Health) in NiTi Aayog, Dr Vinod K Paul on Thursday addressed seven myths on India's Covid-19 vaccination program. He said these myths are arising due to distorted statements, half-truths, and blatant lies. India is in talk with Pfizer and Moderna for earliest import of vaccine.
While the WHO's official death toll due to Covid is around 3.4 million so far, the actual number could be at least 6-8 million, showed the global health body's annual World Health Statistics report 2021.
The highest numbers of new deaths were reported from India (27,922 new deaths; 2.0 new deaths per 100 000; a 4 per cent increase), Nepal (1,224 new deaths; 4.2 new deaths per 100 000; a 266 per cent increase) and Indonesia (1,125 new deaths; 0.4 new deaths per 100,000; a 5 per cent decrease).
The WHO chief highlighted that at least 63 million doses of vaccines have been shipped to 124 countries and economies, but they represent just 0.5 per cent of the combined population of those nations.
The Jaipur unit of the World Health Organisation (WHO) donated 100 oxygen concentrators to the Rajasthan government here on Monday.
North Korea has told the World Health Organization that it has tested 25,986 people for the coronavirus through April but still has yet to find a single infection.
The WHO on Monday said that the coronavirus variant first identified in India last year was being classified as a variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily.
By October, the trial had enrolled more than 11,000 participants hospitalised with Covid-19 in 30 countries. But the researcher found that none of the four drugs saved lives or shortened hospital stays.
The authorization comes as the world works to ramp up its coronavirus vaccinations to significantly curb the pandemic over a year after it broke out in Wuhan, China.
According to the WHO, a variant is considered worrying if it spreads more easily, causes more serious cases of the disease, bypasses the immune system or reduces the effectiveness of known treatments.
Dr Silvio Brusaferro was drawn into scandal after a leaked document from Bergamo prosecutors last week revealed transcripts of WhatsApp chats between Brusaferro and a WHO official.
Cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates, and some countries that had previously avoided widespread transmission are now seeing steep increases in infections, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a special ministerial meeting.
Close to 40 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have already been distributed through the COVAX Facility, half of them in Africa, but vaccine supplies are still stalled due to "tremendous demand" especially in India, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
While citing "many countries around the world" have shown that this virus can be stopped and contained with proven public health measures and strong systems that respond rapidly and consistently, Tedros said that the global body "does not warrant endless lockdowns".
The chief further said that COVAX has delivered more than 38 million doses of vaccine to more than 100 countries and economies in the past six weeks.
India has been registering a record number of cases of coronavirus since April beginning. With a record 1,45,384 fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 1,32,05,926 on Saturday.
Every year, April 7 is celebrated as World Health Day to spread awareness about quality living and the importance of health. Especially today, when the world is witnessing the second wave of Covid19, it has become even more important to celebrate this day and focus on the measures to be taken to deal with the problems at hand.
China said on Thursday that it has shared all data and analyses with the experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) tracing the origin of Covid-19, and it is ready to continue working with global experts to jointly study and analyse the data.
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