The World Health Organization’s (WHO) regional office for Europe provided assurance on Thursday that all covid vaccines approved to date are effective against “all variants”.
The WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Henri Kluge, however, appealed for “caution” at a press conference on the evolution of the pandemic, and argued that it is a “persistent threat” with “new uncertainties” . “Vaccines may be the light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot be blinded by that light,” he said.
The WHO is closely monitoring the evolution of the four most prominent variants it has detected in Europe, which it calls “of interest” or “concern”. The dominant variant in the region is the one first detected in the UK, but the Indian variant has now been reported in 26 of the 53 countries in the WHO European Region. The Indian mutation, for example, has spread “in many cases” due to international travel, although EU transmission has now also been detected.
Kluge said that non-essential international travel should be avoided and was sceptical about the possibility of ‘vaccination passports’ (as opposed to the vaccination certificate that registers all those immunised), although he acknowledged that tourism is a vitalrevenue stream for some regions.
The WHO’s Head of Emergencies in Europe, Catherine Smallwood, warned that at a time of “high transmission” like the present – despite the regional decline in incidence – and with the “threat” of a new worrying variant, it is necessary to be “extremely careful” and reflect on any decision to de-escalate. “We will need to redouble all efforts,” said Smallwood, who favours maintaining travel requirements such as testing and quarantine in certain situations.