Top WHO Experts Regrets Coronavirus Remarks During Vaccine Rush
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – A top expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) has walked away from her comments on the spread of the coronavirus amid concerns they could undermine government-imposed social distancing rules and other measures to halt the virus.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove previously asserted that transmission of COVID-19 by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare.”
But after pressure from other health experts and officials, Van Kerkhove said Tuesday her remarks had been misinterpreted. “I was responding to a question at the press conference. I wasn’t stating a policy of WHO or anything like that,“ she stressed to reporters.
“I used the phrase ‘very rare.’ And I think that that’s [a] misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare. I was referring to a small subset of studies,” Van Kerkhove added.
SCIENTISTS ANGRY
Some scientists condemned the WHO for changing the narrative as it could have policy implications. Governments around the world impose face masks, social-distancing measures, and other restrictions because of what they claim is the risk of asymptomatic transmission.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said in published remarks that Van Kerkhove’s previous message “undercut” these efforts. “When you translate science to the real world, you’ve got to adhere to the KISS admonition: keep it simple, stupid. You’ve got to boil it down. If the messages get too nuanced, you create confusion. And that’s exactly what happened.”
He added: “If highly sophisticated infectious disease doctors were confused about the message, you can be sure that John and Jane were also confused.”
The controversy emerged amid a rush by the pharmaceutical industry to find a potentially very profitable coronavirus vaccine.
VACCINE RUSH
The U.S. top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told biotech executives on Tuesday that vaccines are widely regarded as the best hope of stopping or at least slowing the pandemic.
Fauci said he was “almost certain” that more than one would be successful. Several are already being tested in people, and at least one is expected to move into large, Phase 3 trials in July, he said.
That was welcome news for U.S. billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates, who is set to become the largest donor of the WHO. His Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports vaccines.
However, a recent poll by the Reuters/Ipsos agencies showed that in the United States, one in four Americans have little or no interest in a vaccine against COVID-19. Among them, nearly half believe the vaccine is “riskier” than the disease itself.
Two-thirds of respondents in the poll said they were “very” or “somewhat” interested in a vaccine. Health experts expected a higher figure due to the heightened awareness of COVID-19 and the related reported death toll of over 100,000 people in the U.S. alone.
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