May 21, 2021 – The COVID-19 vaccines approved in the US and Europe offer protection against the four main known variants of coronavirus, according to a World Health Organization official.
“All COVID-19 virus variants that have appeared so far react to the approved vaccines available,” said WHO European Regional Director Hans Kluge at a press conference on Thursday.
Kluge said variant B.1.617, which is now killing thousands of people every day in India, where it was first discovered, is of particular concern.
This variant has expanded to all six WHO regions and has been detected in 26 of the 53 nations in the WHO European region. Most of the cases are related to international travel, he said.
“It is able to spread quickly and displace variant B.1.1.7, which has become the dominant line in Europe,” he said.
Kluge emphasized that many people have not yet been vaccinated, but all variants can be controlled with public health and safety measures such as masks and social distancing.
“Right now we can say that all four variants respond to the vaccines available as of today,” he said. “But the best way to counter that [spread] aims to speed up the introduction of vaccination. ”
The other variants were first detected in Brazil (P.1) and South Africa (B.1.351).
According to Luge, the vaccination program is reducing COVID numbers in the WHO European Region, with the number of cases dropping by 60% in a month. But he warned against dropping our guard.
“This progress is fragile. We have been here before. Let’s not make the same mistakes that were made around this time last year that led to a resurgence of COVID-19, ”he said.
Luge said nations should “eliminate or reconsider” international travel. But the European Union and the United Kingdom recently relaxed guidelines for international travel.
“Vaccines may be the light at the end of the tunnel, but we mustn’t be blinded by that light,” he said.
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Press conference, World Health Organization.
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