The highly contagious Delta variant has reduced the effectiveness of vaccines against the transmission of the disease to 40%, the WHO boss said on Wednesday, November 24, urging people to continue wearing masks and other barrier practices.
"
Vaccines save lives, but they do not completely prevent the transmission of Covid-19
", explained Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a regular press briefing devoted to the pandemic, which is wreaking havoc in Europe.
“
There is data to suggest that before the arrival of the Delta variant, vaccines reduced transmission by about 60%;
with Delta it fell to 40%,
”he stressed.
Read also WHO fears 700,000 additional deaths from Covid-19 in Europe by spring
"
In many countries and communities, we fear that there is this misconception that vaccines have ended the pandemic, and that people who are vaccinated no longer need to take other precautions,
" he added.
The director general of the organization opened his traditional opening remarks on the situation in Europe, hit hard by a fifth wave of infections, caused by a mixture of insufficient vaccination rates and slackening - arguably premature in view of the domination of the Delta variant in the region - in barrier gestures and restrictions.
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“
Last week, more than 60% of infections and deaths from Covid worldwide occurred in Europe
”, recalled Dr Tedros, adding that “
this huge number of cases is reflected in an unbearable burden on health systems and exhausted health workers
”. With more than 2.5 million cases and nearly 30,000 deaths recorded in the past week, the Old Continent is by far the region of the world most affected by the pandemic, according to official data collected by AFP. And the trend remains on the rise. On Tuesday, WHO Europe was alarmed by the "
grip
" of Covid-19 in Europe, which could cause 700,000 additional deaths on the continent by the spring, in addition to the 1.5 million deaths already counted.