The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned today that even when the first vaccinations against the coronavirus begin, perhaps in early 2021, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 will still have a wide margin to be transmitted.
“At first, the vaccine will be primarily for health workers, the elderly and risk groups, which will give the virus still a lot of room to move, so continuing testing must continue to be a vital tool to control the pandemic”Tedros said at a press conference.
The Ethiopian wanted to underline that in the face of the hopes that the good results of more and more clinical trials of covid vaccines give, one of the most important weapons to combine the pandemic will continue to be diagnostic analyzes, including rapid tests.
“If we do not know where the virus is, we cannot stop it; we cannot isolate those who have it, treat them, or track their contacts,” recalled the WHO director general.
Tedros insisted on the strategic importance of analysis; He stressed that all the countries on the planet already have the capacity to do them, and stated that “everyone who needs to take a test should be able to do it.”
The director general assured that all the countries that have achieved effective control of the coronavirus have had in common the emphasis they have placed on testing.
“We continue to need more tests, better, easier to use, cheaper, safe and faster,” he emphasized.
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