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It is ‘unrealistic’ that COVID-19 pandemic would be over by 2021 end: WHO expert

It is ‘unrealistic’ that COVID-19 pandemic would be over by 2021 end: WHO expert
Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program (Image: who.int)

The coronavirus outbreak, which apparently started at China's Wuhan City in December 2019, has so far infected more than 113 million people and claimed 2.5 million lives worldwide.

Written by Longjam Dineshwori |Updated : March 3, 2021 11:04 AM IST

Several COVID vaccines have been rolled out across the globe and many countries have started nationwide vaccination programmes in the hope to stop the spread of the deadly virus and contain the pandemic. India started the world's biggest anti-COVID vaccination on January 16 with two vaccines, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Serum Institute's Covishield. Vaccination is seen as a crucial tool to achieve herd immunity to stop the pandemic, but the novel coronavirus isn't going away anytime soon. As per experts at the World Health Organization (WHO), it is "unrealistic" that Covid-19 pandemic would be over by the end of this year.

The coronavirus outbreak, which apparently started at China's Wuhan City in December 2019, has so far infected more than 113 million people and claimed 2.5 million lives worldwide. The vaccines may bring an end to the acute phase of the pandemic by the end of 2021, but the virus may continue to exist for a longer time, WHO experts stated.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, stated, "I think it will be very premature, and I think unrealistic, to think that we're going to finish with this virus by the end of the year."

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"But I think what we can, if we're smart, finish with the hospitalizations, the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic," he added, as reported by Xinhua news agency.

WHO's chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, highlighted that the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) aims to bring an end to the acute phase of the pandemic by the end of this year. COVAX is a global initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and others.

However, Ryan added that they still face a huge challenge in rolling out vaccines equitably and fairly to those who most need them around the world.

Meanwhile, some of variants of SARS-CoV-2 is posing threat to vaccine progress. Particularly, the coronavirus variant strain, known as B.1.351 or 501.V2, that was first detected in South Africa in October 2020 has caused concern among the scientists because of its unusually large number of mutations. Studies have also shown that a few of the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines are less effective against this strain.