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Specialist answers 1:13
(CNN) -
The director of the World Health Organization gave a hopeful note on overcoming the pandemic in 2022 in a New Year's Eve message, saying the world has the "tools to end this calamity" even as the New daily covid cases around the world hit new records.
But the optimistic post by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, which he shared on LinkedIn on Thursday, came with a caveat: The more inequity persists, the more the pandemic will persist.
Two years later, the tools available to fight COVID-19 are still unevenly distributed around the world.
In Africa, three out of four health workers remain unvaccinated, while in Europe and the United States, third booster doses are received.
That gap has increased the chances of new variants emerging, "locking us into a cycle of ongoing losses, difficulties and restrictions," Tedros said.
"If we end inequity, we end the pandemic and we end the global nightmare that we have all lived through. And this is possible," he added.
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As part of his New Year's resolutions, the WHO chief said he would work collaboratively with governments to prioritize vaccine deliveries to global initiatives, such as COVAX and AVAT, with the goal of vaccinating 70% of people in all countries by mid-2022.
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You can read his full post, "My hope to end the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022," on LinkedIn.
Here is an excerpt from his message:
"After two years, we now know this virus well. We know the proven measures to control transmission: wearing masks, avoiding crowds, maintaining physical distancing, practicing respiratory and hand hygiene, opening windows for ventilation, testing and tracking We know how to treat the disease it causes and improve the survival chances of people with serious illnesses. With all these learnings and skills, we have the opportunity to reverse this pandemic for good. "
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