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WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
STORY: WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
TRT: 5:10
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 7 MAY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1.Wide shot, podium with speakers in press room
2.SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:
"Wednesday’s announcement by the United States of America that it will support a temporary waiver of intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines is a significant statement of solidarity and support for vaccine equity. I know that this is not a politically easy thing to do, so I very much appreciate the leadership of the United States, and we urge other countries to follow their example."
3.Wide shot, podium with speakers in press room
4.SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:
"We are in an unprecedented crisis that requires unprecedented action. Cases are at a record high, almost 100,000 people are dying globally each week, and we have a chronic vaccine crisis. The World Trade Organization provisions for IP waivers were designed precisely for a situation like this. If we don’t use them now, then when? It’s also important to remember that intellectual property waivers will need to be accompanied by transfer of technology and know-how for these difficult-to-make vaccines. We continue to encourage all Member States to support technology transfer through C-TAP, the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool."
5.Wide shot, podium with speakers in press room
6.SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:
"WHO is continuing to explore every avenue for increasing access to vaccines globally. This afternoon, WHO gave Emergency Use Listing to Sinopharm Beijing’s COVID-19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality. This expands the list of vaccines that COVAX can buy, and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval, and to import and administer a vaccine. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE, has also reviewed the available data, and recommends the vaccine for adults 18 years and older, with a two-dose schedule. Vaccines remain a vital tool. But right now, the volume and distribution of vaccines is insufficient to end the pandemic, without the sustained and tailored application of public health measures that we know work."
7.Wide shot, podium with speakers in press room
8.SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Mike Ryan Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme: "My concern right now is that this virus has huge kinetic energy in some countries. It's got a massive force of infection. And we have got to slow that down because it is being driven by both human behavior, by the emergence of variants and many other factors. We're just, in some senses, we're pushing three different accelerators at the same time. And we expect to slow down. We're expecting the virus to slow down. And we're pushing the accelerators. We have got to stop pushing the accelerators on this virus. We need to vaccinate more people and protect the vulnerable. We need to reduce the risk of emergence of variants. And we need to, and I hate to say this because everyone has the hope in vaccines, and I have exactly the same hope, that we will eventually get to vaccination coverage rates that will protect everybody. But we're not there yet. We are simply not there yet. And what is driving these huge spikes in infection? It may be contributed to by variants, but what is driving it is proximity between people, it is crowding and mixing of people without protection, without handwashing and poorly ventilated spaces, without wearing masks. And I know how hard that is in the context of some countries, but that is the brutal reality."
9.Wide shot, podium with speakers in press room
10.SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Mike Ryan Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
"And some countries now are at such a rate of infection that their health systems are back under severe pressure. We've seen the tragedy in India. We need to avoid that same tragedy occurring in other countries and some other countries are heading in that direction. And we need to take action, we need to take the heat out. This pandemic is global, but this pandemic is acting very differently in different countries. Each country is having a unique experience. And I would advise every country to look at their data now and see where you are, look at where you are in this fight and some of you are not in a good place."
11.Wide shot, podium with speakers in press room
The US announcement to support a temporary waiver of intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines is “a significant statement of solidarity and support for vaccine equity,” WHO chief Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Friday (7 May), urging other countries “to follow their example."
"We are in an unprecedented crisis that requires unprecedented action,” Dr Tedros said. “Cases are at a record high, almost 100,000 people are dying globally each week, and we have a chronic vaccine crisis.”
Insisting that the World Trade Organization provisions for Intellectual Property waivers were designed “precisely for a situation like this,” Dr Tedros asked, “if we don’t use them now, then when?”
He also reminded that intellectual property waivers will need to be accompanied by transfer of technology and know-how for these difficult-to-make vaccines.
Announcing the WHO’s Emergency Use Listing to Sinopharm Beijing’s COVID-19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality, Dr Tedros said “the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE, has also reviewed the available data, and recommends the vaccine for adults 18 years and older, with a two-dose schedule.”
“Vaccines remain a vital tool,” Dr Tedros said. “But right now, the volume and distribution of vaccines is insufficient to end the pandemic, without the sustained and tailored application of public health measures that we know work."
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