COVID-19 will not be finished by end of 2021: WHO

New Delhi, 2/3: The World Health Organization(WHO) on Tuesday said that it is “unrealistic” to think the pandemic to be over by the end of 2021.

“I think it will be very premature, and I think unrealistic, to think that we’re going to finish with this virus by the end of the year,” Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said at a press conference

“But I think what we can, if we’re smart, finish with the hospitalizations, the deaths, and the tragedy associated with this pandemic,” he said.

Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist of the WHO, added that “the goal of COVAX is to bring an end to the acute phase of the pandemic by the end of 2021.”

COVAX is a program led by the WHO, Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). It aims at distributing Covid-19 vaccines around the world.

“We still face a huge challenge in rolling out vaccines equitably and fairly to those who most need them around the world,” Ryan said.

“We’re in a much better position than we were. But nothing is guaranteed,” he added.