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STORY: WHO / COVID-19 UPDATE
TRT: 4:33
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 SEPTEMBER 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, WHO headquarters exterior
08 SEPTEMBER 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"More than 50,000 people have died with COVID-19 every week since October last year, and for the past month, deaths have remained at almost 70,000 a week. We have the solutions to stop transmission and save lives. But those solutions are either not being used well, or not being shared well. The inequitable distribution of life-saving tools including diagnostics, oxygen, PPE and vaccines is driving a two-track pandemic."
4. Wide shot, press room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"There has been a lot of talk about vaccine equity, but too little action. High-income countries have promised to donate more than a billion doses, but less than 15 percent of those doses have materialised. Manufacturers have promised to prioritize COVAX and low-income countries. We don’t want any more promises. We just want the vaccines."
6. Wide shot, press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"A month ago, I called for a global moratorium on booster doses at least until the end of September, to prioritise vaccinating the most at-risk people around the world who are yet to receive their first dose. There has been little change in the global situation since then, so today I am calling for an extension of the moratorium until at least the end of the year, to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40 percent of its population."
8. Wide shot, press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Bruce Aylward, Senior Advisor to the Director-General and Head of the ACT-Accelerator Coordination Hub:
"We've seen incredibly compelling data from high coverage countries, high-income countries, producing countries. So, where they're getting high coverage with these vaccines now, you have seen it, they are still having COVID cases, but their COVID deaths are plummeting. In the countries with the low coverage, they are still having high rates of COVID deaths and this is what we need to change and change as rapidly as possible. Should there be a moratorium on boosters? Absolutely. Should there be a moratorium on vaccinating people at low risk of severe disease or death? Absolutely. So, our job, as the World Health Organization and the Director-General at the top of this, is to make sure that we call for equity for these products on every single way possible."
10. Wide shot, press room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Kate O'Brien, Director, Department of Immunizations, Vaccines and Biologicals, World Health Organization (WHO):
"We are not asking to withhold something for which there is a strong set of evidence that this is needed, in fact, in order to give booster doses to individuals. The vaccines are holding up very, very well against the severe end of the disease spectrum. The actual focus of the vaccine programme is to prevent severe disease, hospitalisations and deaths. And we see in the evidence that in fact the vaccines are performing extremely well over time and against the variants, against these outcomes. So, we will continue to watch the evidence very carefully but our expert advisory committees continue to see that there's not a compelling case to move forward with a generalised recommendation for booster doses."
12. Wide shot, press room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
"Today, the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared an outbreak of meningitis in the north-eastern Tshopo Province, with 261 suspected cases and 129 deaths reported. Health authorities have deployed an initial emergency team, and WHO is supporting the response. More than 100 patients are already receiving treatment at home and in health centres. WHO has provided medical supplies and plans to deploy more experts and resources."
14. Med shot, WHO emblem on wall
WHO chief Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus called for a global moratorium on booster COVID-19 vaccine doses until “at least the end of the year,” to enable every country to vaccinate at least 40 percent of its population.
A month ago, the WHO Director-General called for a global moratorium on booster doses until the end of September, to prioritise vaccinating the most at-risk people around the world who are yet to receive their first dose; but there has been little change in the global situation since then.
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva today (08 Sep), Dr Tedros said, "More than 50,000 people have died with COVID-19 every week since October last year, and for the past month, deaths have remained at almost 70,000 a week. We have the solutions to stop transmission and save lives. But those solutions are either not being used well, or not being shared well. The inequitable distribution of life-saving tools including diagnostics, oxygen, PPE and vaccines is driving a two-track pandemic."
Dr Tedros said, "There has been a lot of talk about vaccine equity, but too little action. High-income countries have promised to donate more than a billion doses, but less than 15 percent of those doses have materialised. Manufacturers have promised to prioritize COVAX and low-income countries. We don’t want any more promises. We just want the vaccines."
Dr Bruce Aylward, Senior Advisor to the Director-General and Head of the ACT-Accelerator Coordination Hub, said there was “incredibly compelling” data from high coverage countries. He said these countries are still having COVID cases, “but their COVID deaths are plummeting.” He noted, however, that countries with the low coverage are still having high rates of COVID deaths; “and this is what we need to change and change as rapidly as possible.”
Aylward stressed the need for a moratorium on vaccine boosters and on vaccinating people at low risk of severe disease or death. He said, “Our job, as the World Health Organization and the Director-General at the top of this, is to make sure that we call for equity for these products on every single way possible."
Dr Kate O'Brien, Director of WHO’s Department of Immunizations, Vaccines and Biologicals underscored that WHO is not asking to withhold something “for which there is a strong set of evidence that this is needed, in fact, in order to give booster doses to individuals.” She said the vaccines are holding up “very, very well against the severe end of the disease spectrum,” which is actual focus of the vaccine programme. She said, “We see in the evidence that in fact the vaccines are performing extremely well over time and against the variants, against these outcomes. So, we will continue to watch the evidence very carefully, but our expert advisory committees continue to see that there's not a compelling case to move forward with a generalised recommendation for booster doses."
Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which declared an outbreak of meningitis in the north-eastern Tshopo Province, Dr Tedros said there were 261 suspected cases and 129 deaths reported. He said health authorities have deployed an initial emergency team, and WHO is supporting the response. He said more than 100 patients are already receiving treatment at home and in health centres, adding that WHO has provided medical supplies and “plans to deploy more experts and resources."
