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WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
STORY: WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
TRT: 04:28
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 16 NOVEMBER 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE – RECENT - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Various shots, exterior, WHO Headquarters
16 NOVEMBER 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"This is not the time for complacency. While we continue to receive encouraging news about COVID-19 vaccines and remain cautiously optimistic about the potential for new tools to start to arrive in the coming months. Right now, we are extremely concerned by the surge in cases we’re seeing in some countries. Particularly in Europe and the Americas, health workers and health systems are being pushed to the breaking point.”
4. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"This is a dangerous virus, which can attack every system in the body. Those countries that are letting the virus run unchecked are playing with fire."
6. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"There is no excuse for inaction. My message is very clear: act fast, act now, act decisively. A laissez-faire attitude to the virus – not using the full range of tools available – leads to death, suffering and hurts livelihoods and economies. It’s not a choice between lives or livelihoods. The quickest way to open up economies is to defeat the virus."
8. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, World Health Organization (WHO):
"One very encouraging thing is to see that at least with the two mRNA vaccine results that we've heard, Pfizer and Moderna, that we seem to be achieving high efficacy. But there are many, many questions still remaining about the duration of protection, the impact on severe disease, the impact on different sub-populations, especially the elderly, as well as the adverse events, beyond a certain period of time. So, we also hope that the clinical trials will continue to collect data because that's really going to be important for us to know about in the long-term. And we're looking forward to getting more results in the coming weeks from the other vaccine trials, that are currently in progress."
10. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Mariângela Simão, Assistant Director-General, Access to Medicines and Health Products, World Health Organization (WHO):
"Of course, as I mentioned, there are challenges in the implementation, but we are also aiming through the COVAX Facility in ensuring that countries will have a chance, an opportunity to have access to the vaccines they prefer in due time, and that we don't have a long lagging period between these vaccines reaching developing countries and developed countries."
12. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Katherine O'Brien, Director, Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, World Health Organization (WHO):
“And so, the importance of having achieved, obviously, the data need to be reviewed by regulators and a full analysis of the data needs to be taken and these trials need to be completed, as Soumya has emphasized, but this is, there was a really nice analogy recently about getting to vaccine efficacy is like building base camp at Everest. But the climb to the peak is really about delivering the vaccines. And this cannot be overemphasized, that the people who need to receive these vaccines are the ones who really are the focus."
14. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 Technical lead, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
"We have had cases that have been staff members. And yes, I did also see the AP story. There have been 65 cases associated with HQ staff, headquarters staff, not all of which have been on the premises. There've been 36, those 65 are from the start of the pandemic. So, let us be very clear on that. And clearly, the AP is reporting on an email that was sent to staff about that. So, those are 65 cases reported since the beginning of the year. 36 have had access to the premises. As I'm sure you know, we've greatly reduced our staff in the building we're working in these different types of phases depending on the epidemiologic situation in the areas that are around us as most workplaces are doing."
16. Wide shot, WHO officials at press conference
While news about COVID-19 vaccines are “encouraging,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, today (16 Nov) said “this is not the time for complacency.”
Dr Tedros said the WHO remains “cautiously optimistic about the potential for new tools to start to arrive in the coming months,” but “right now, we are extremely concerned by the surge in cases we’re seeing in some countries,” particularly in Europe and the Americas, where “health workers and health systems are being pushed to the breaking point."
The Director-General stressed that "this is a dangerous virus, which can attack every system in the body,” adding that “those countries that are letting the virus run unchecked are playing with fire."
Dr Tedros said, “there is no excuse for inaction” and “a laissez-faire attitude to the virus – not using the full range of tools available – leads to death, suffering and hurts livelihoods and economies.”
He said “it’s not a choice between lives or livelihoods. The quickest way to open up economies is to defeat the virus.”
WHO’s Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan said, “one very encouraging thing is to see that at least with the two mRNA vaccine results that we've heard, Pfizer and Moderna, that we seem to be achieving high efficacy. But there are many, many questions still remaining about the duration of protection, the impact on severe disease, the impact on different sub-populations, especially the elderly, as well as the adverse events, beyond a certain period of time. So, we also hope that the clinical trials will continue to collect data because that's really going to be important for us to know about in the long-term. And we're looking forward to getting more results in the coming weeks from the other vaccine trials, that are currently in progress."
Assistant Director-General Dr Mariângela Simão said, “there are challenges in the implementation, but we are also aiming through the COVAX Facility in ensuring that countries will have a chance, an opportunity to have access to the vaccines they prefer in due time, and that we don't have a long lagging period between these vaccines reaching developing countries and developed countries."
For her part, WHO’s Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, Dr Katherine O'Brien, said, “getting to vaccine efficacy is like building base camp at Everest. But the climb to the peak is really about delivering the vaccines. And this cannot be overemphasized, that the people who need to receive these vaccines are the ones who really are the focus."
WHO’s COVID-19 Technical lead, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, said, “there have been 65 cases” associated with WHO headquarters staff, out of which “36 have had access to the premises.”
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