The year 2022 should be the year in which "the pandemic is put to an end", stressed this Monday, December 20, the leader of the World Health Organization (WHO), calling for prudence at the festivities.
“We are all fed up with this pandemic. We all want to be with our families, but to better protect them and protect ourselves, in some cases, this means canceling an event,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Speaking at a press conference at the UN in Geneva (Switzerland), the WHO official recommended that families and people who intend to be together during the end of the year to think twice: “a canceled event is better than live less».
On the other hand, next year, "WHO is committed to doing everything in its power to end the pandemic," he said.
As the fifth wave of the covid-19 pandemic hits many countries in force and the emergence of the Omicron variant puts the planet back in emergency, the leader of the WHO, now one of the most familiar faces in the fight against the coronavirus, declared :«2022 must be the year we end the pandemic».
Again, he called for better access to vaccines in disadvantaged countries.
"If we want to end the pandemic next year, we must end inequality, ensuring that 70% of the population in each country is vaccinated by mid-year," he said.
Tedros reiterated that the WHO is not opposed to booster doses, but stressed that they should be reserved for people at risk or over 65 years of age.
The director of WHO considered that countries that administer booster doses to adults or children in perfect health would do better to share these vaccines or convince unvaccinated people to adhere.
"We are faced with a very harsh reality, but we must show solidarity," he insisted.
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