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Only Anti-Viral drugs will end COVID-19, not Vaccines — WHO
 
By: Cletus Sunday Ilobanafor
Wed, 2 Feb 2022   ||   Nigeria,
 

The World Health Organisa­tion (WHO) has said that only deployment of new generation anti-viral drugs would stop coronaviruses or flu variants constantly mutating and rein­venting themselves, not vac­cines and regular mass testing.

The WHO in a broadcast fur­ther explained that both mea­sures have faced distribution and public hesitancy issues, while mixed messaging on social distancing and wearing face masks also continues to plague our communities.

The United Nations (UN) health body, for the umpteenth time also warned against eas­ing of pandemic restrictions, noting that new variants can flare up anywhere until there is a permanent cure using new generation anti-viral drugs.

It said, “We should also con­sider this present-day conun­drum against historical par­allels such as the Spanish Flu (1918-20) when the initial death toll was relatively contained, lulling a global population al­ready fatigued by the devasta­tion of WW1 into thinking the worst was over.

“But that virus then mutat­ed into its most deadly strain, killing 50 million people when earth’s population numbered less than two billion – it’s now close to eight billion.

“So, as the COVID storm ap­pears to fade, governments, sci­entists, and authorities like the WHO face a difficult balancing act: managing the expectations of their people, businesses, and economies, while guarding against another COVID vari­ant, protecting lives, and im­proving longevity and overall health provision.

“This is before even starting to look at long-term pandemic damage done to millions of people with other conditions, denied proper care during COVID or left with the varied and insidious effects of Long COVID”, WHO said.

It said another challenge is that COVID-19 has been just one of several recent viruses with global pandemic poten­tial, including SARS, Indian Flu Variant, Ebola, and Zika Virus.

It said, “We should also con­sider this present-day conun­drum against historical par­allels such as the Spanish Flu (1918-20) when the initial death toll was relatively contained, lulling a global population al­ready fatigued by the devasta­tion of WW1 into thinking the worst was over.

“But that virus then mutat­ed into its most deadly strain, killing 50 million people when earth’s population numbered less than two billion – it’s now close to eight billion.

“So, as the COVID storm ap­pears to fade, governments, sci­entists, and authorities like the WHO face a difficult balancing act: managing the expectations of their people, businesses, and economies, while guarding against another COVID vari­ant, protecting lives, and im­proving longevity and overall health provision.

“This is before even starting to look at long-term pandemic damage done to millions of people with other conditions, denied proper care during COVID or left with the varied and insidious effects of Long COVID”, WHO said.

It said another challenge is that COVID-19 has been just one of several recent viruses with global pandemic poten­tial, including SARS, Indian Flu Variant, Ebola, and Zika Virus.

 

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