Delta Most Transmissible Variant, Says WHO

The Covid-19 delta form was first found in India and is "the most transmissible of the variants identified so far," according to the World Health Organization's director-general, who also warned that it had spread to at least 85 nations.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference on Friday that the shortage of immunizations in poor countries was exacerbating the delta variant's spread.

 He recently attended a  meeting on the vaccine allocation advisory panel and said that "They were unhappy because there was no vaccine to distribute," condemning developed countries for refusing to share vaccines with the developing world right away. 

Tedros claimed that the international community was failing and that it was at risk of repeating mistakes like those made during the AIDS crisis decades ago and the 2009 swine flu pandemic when vaccines were only delivered after the outbreak was over.

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"After (HIV) was already rampant in high-income nations, it took ten years for antiretrovirals to reach low-income countries," he said. "Do we want to do it all over again?" 

COVAX, the UN-backed effort to send vaccines to poor countries, has missed several deadlines for distributing Covid-19 doses, and its largest supplier isn't slated to ship any vaccines until the end of the year.

Hundreds of millions of doses promised by countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and others are unlikely to come soon.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser to the WHO chief, said, "We have zero doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, zero doses of Pfizer vaccine, zero doses of (Johnson and Johnson) vaccine through COVAX this month."

"During this time, every single one of our suppliers is unable to deliver because others are placing requests for those items, including others who are vaccinating extremely young populations who are not at risk."

WHO authorities cautioned that as border restrictions and other public health precautions are eased across Europe, the United States, and other nations with high vaccination rates, a resurgence of disease might occur.

At present, our public health and social initiatives, immunizations, diagnostics, and medicines are all working. However, this virus could evolve at a time when current safeguards are ineffective, said Van Kerkhove.