WHO affirms COVID vaccine efficacy against variants, warns against overseas travel

COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorised around the world are effective in neutralising all known variants of the coronavirus, including the more virulent strain in India, the World Health Organisation‘s Director for Europe said on Thursday. Hans Henri P Kluge also advised against resuming international travel as the progress made against the coronavirus pandemic, which broke out in China’s Wuhan in December 2019, remains “fragile”.

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“All COVID-19 virus variants that have emerged so far do respond to the available, approved vaccines,” AFP quoted Kluge as saying during a press conference. “Right now, in the face of a continued threat and new uncertainty, we need to continue to exercise caution, and rethink or avoid international travel,” he said. 

The Belgian also said all COVID-19 variants can be controlled using the same health and social measures that have been used so far. 

The B.1.617 variant identified in India, which the WHO recently declared as a “variant of concern“, has been identified in at least 26 out of the 53 countries in the WHO Europe region, Kluge said. 

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23% of the population in the region have been administered at least one vaccine dose, with just 11% being fully vaccinated, warning citizens to continue to exercise caution. 

“Vaccines may be a light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot be blinded by that light,” he said.