Vaccines won’t end covid-19 pandemic —WHO

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that Covid-19 vaccines alone would not put an end to the pandemic.

The agency’s Emergencies Programme Director, Mike Ryan made the remarks during a virtual question-and-answer session from their headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

He said the vaccine would have huge impact in putting an end to the virus, however, Covid-19 guidelines such as social distancing and others have to be maintained.

His comments came the same day that pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced that final results from the late-stage trial of their COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 95 percent effective.

Read also: WHO designates 2021 as Year of Health and Care Workers

“Some people think that vaccines will be, in a sense, the solution, the unicorn we’ve all been chasing. It’s not,” he said.

Once a viable vaccine is widely available, he said, it will be another preventive measure.

“Adding vaccines is going to give us a huge chance. But if we add vaccines and forget the other things, COVID does not go to zero,” Ryan said.

“We need to add vaccination to the existing physical measures” to taking care and practicing good hygiene.

“And if we add that physical distancing and hygiene and care to vaccines, I think we will go a long way to getting rid of this virus.”

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