The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday that a critical shortage of vaccines has left some countries unable to start COVID-19 inoculation campaigns, while insisting on a “vaccines and” - rather than a “vaccines-only” – approach to prevent infections spreading.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris said that “vaccination is beginning to show good effects” in countries that have been able to start their vaccination programmes.
“We all need to be vaccinated now”, she insisted, amid efforts to quadruple the global production of vaccines from the current output of around five billion.
Preliminary results from countries such as the United Kingdom have shown that vaccination programs have averted very large numbers of deaths, Dr. Harris explained.
But she warned against complacency and appealed for greater vigilance to prevent transmission of the virus: “We have to do it all, we have to do all the public health social measures, we have to get better at the quarantine, better at the self-isolation, better at the tracking tracing and really, really do it, everywhere.”
Highlighting Brazil’s “terrible losses” from the new coronavirus, Dr Harris reiterated that “public health social measures work” – a message later echoed by WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who urged countries during a scheduled Press conference later on Friday to “stop saying, ‘It’s vaccine only,’ it’s ‘Vaccine and.’”
Dr. Harris acknowledged that it is “very difficult for people living in crowded conditions, so they need the support at every level to avoid the crowding, avoid the close contact, everyone who is potentially infected needs to be identified”.
Brazil recorded more than 4,000 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours for the first time on Thursday, as a more contagious variant fuelled a surge in cases.
To date, the country has seen the second highest death toll from the coronavirus after the United States – more than 340,000 deaths – and as of early April, it had dispensed nearly 20 million doses.
But the world faces a “serious shortfall” of vaccines which has left many countries waiting to begin their inoculation campaigns, Dr. Harris said.
Highlighting the misunderstanding that getting vaccinated stops transmission, Dr. Harris said that this was not the case.
She also warned that the rise in cases and deaths in all regions around the world is in part owing to “an increase in the variants” and “some of it is due to people going out of lockdown and interpreting that as a signal that they got back to this old normal, that as we know has not been working.”
“We need to bring down the transmission while giving the vaccination the chance to stop the severe disease and the severe deaths,” she insisted.
ENDS
STORY: WHO Vaccine Advice
TRT: 02 min 50s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 9 MARCH 2021 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations building and flag alley, a sunny day.
- Wide shot, podium with speakers in a near-empty Room XIV in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Margaret Harris, World Health Organization spokesperson: “We are very concerned about the rise in the cases and deaths in all regions actually, all regions of the world are showing an uptake, a little bit less in Africa but everywhere there are very concerning rises in cases and deaths.”
- Close-up, UN logo, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Margaret Harris, World Health Organization spokesperson: “Some of it is due to an increase in the variants, some of it is due to people going out of lockdown and interpreting that as a signal that they got back to this old normal, that as we know has not been working.”
- Close-up, UNTV camera, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Margaret Harris, World Health Organization spokesperson: “People are misunderstanding that, seeming to think that vaccination will stop transmission. That is not the case. We need to bring down the transmission while giving the vaccination the chance to stop the severe disease and the severe deaths.”
- Medium shot, podium with speakers to rear, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Margaret Harris, World Health Organization spokesperson: “The good news is we are now seeing preliminary results from countries like the United Kingdom that indeed the vaccination programs have averted very large numbers of deaths. But we have to do it all, we have to do all the public health social measures, we have to get better at the quarantine, better at the self-isolation, better at the tracking tracing and really, really do it, everywhere.”
- Wide shot, UNTV camera in foreground and podium to rear, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Margaret Harris, World Health Organization spokesperson: “Brazil has been suffering terrible losses, but the message is, again, the public health social measures work. You have to apply them. Now it is very difficult for people living in crowded conditions, so they need the support, they need the support at every level to be able to avoid the crowding, avoid the close contact, everyone who is potentially infected needs to be identified so that they can be removed from the healthy.”
- Close-up, laptop screen, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Margaret Harris, World Health Organization spokesperson: “If we do it all, we will get out of this and the vaccination is beginning to show good effects in the countries that have been able to do those programmes, but we all need to be vaccinated now.”
- Medium close-up, UN logo, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Dr Margaret Harris, World Health Organization spokesperson: “We are facing a serious shortfall of doses and we want to see more doses available for the countries, there are still countries waiting to deliver and begin their vaccination campaigns.”
- Wide shot, UNTV camera in foreground and podium to rear, Room XIV, Palais des Nations.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The appointment on Thursday of Karla Quintana as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic is a key development after nearly a year and a half of work by the UN Human Rights Office supporting the institution’s launch.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNICEF , UNRWA , WHO
The head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country.
1
1
1
Edited News | IIIM , UNHCR
Syria: ‘Key priority’ is to preserve evidence of crimes – UN investigators
In Syria, new access to evidence of horrific human rights violations means that accountability may be closer than ever – if only proof can be preserved, a top UN investigator said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OSE , ICRC , UNHCR
Syria: UN and partners urge action to preserve evidence of prison atrocities, stabilize country
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria five days ago, hundreds of people have rushed to Saydnaya prison, desperate to find loved ones. Disturbing images from the prison and other detention centers have since surfaced, exposing the “unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured for years,” said Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for the UN special envoy for Syria, on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: “Sickening normalisation” of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys
Ongoing military operations by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza continue to devastate Palestinian children and families, with mounting casualties and a critical lack of humanitarian aid for the desperate population.
“Local media reporting here that last night, 30 people were killed in this area in strikes” said a senior emergency officer with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Louise Wateridge, speaking to reporters in Geneva from central Gaza.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Rights experts call for end to impunity for Israel’s violations of international law
Four independent human rights experts have jointly called for the international community to sanction Israel’s conduct of hostilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as in the wider Middle East region - including in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. They also called for the restoration of trust in the international justice system through the abandonment of “extreme interpretations” and “double standards” in the application of the universal norms regulating the conduct of war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR
Syria: needs continue to grow amid highly uncertain situation, say aid teams
The historic power shift in Syria and the still volatile situation two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime have increased humanitarian needs in a country where nearly 17 million people, including millions of internally displaced, already depended on humanitarian aid before the recent events, UN aid teams said on Tuesday.
2
1
3
Edited News , Press Conferences | OSES
Barely 48 hours since opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus and forced out President Bashar al-Assad, the top UN negotiator tasked with helping Syrians’ create a peaceful and democratic future insisted that nothing could be taken for granted.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday called on States to do all in their power to end senseless conflicts and suffering.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
No evacuation order given before Kamal Adwan Hospital strike, says WHO
One of the last partially functional health centres in northern Gaza was reportedly hit again overnight into Friday by several strikes, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the Georgian authorities to respect and protect the rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly following several nights of protests that were marred by violence, and dispersed using disproportionate, and in some cases unnecessary, force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi.