Vaccines do not equal zero COVID-19, says WHO emergencies director

The roll-out of vaccines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will not by itself eliminate the deadly coronavirus, the World Health Organization said in an AFP report.

The WHO warned against complacency and what it said was an erroneous belief that because vaccines are on the near-horizon, the crisis is over.

“Vaccines do not equal zero COVID-19,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan was quoted as saying by AFP.

“Vaccines and vaccination will add a major, major, powerful tool to the tool kit that we have. But by themselves, they will not do the job.”

Britain on Wednesday became the first Western country to approve a vaccine for general use, piling pressure on other countries to follow suit swiftly.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that progress on vaccines “gives us all a lift and we can now start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“However, WHO is concerned that there is a growing perception that the pandemic is over.

“Many places are witnessing very high transmission of the virus, which is putting enormous pressure on hospitals, intensive care units and health workers.”

Global coronavirus infections passed 65 million on Friday.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1.5 million people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.