BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 17
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Availability of safe and effective vaccines is a huge step forward in the context of battle with COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Sıddhartha Datta, Regional Advisor on vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization at WHO Regional Office for Europe told Trend.
He noted that as more types and volumes of vaccines become available, people will have an ever-greater opportunity to end the pandemic.
“The first immediate aim is to make sure that the first deliveries of vaccine doses have the greatest possible impact on reducing severe disease and deaths,” he said.
Having noted that it will take time to roll out enough volumes of vaccines to vaccinate everyone against COVID-19, Datta said that in the meantime everyone must all continue to follow the tried and tested personal protection measures that keep everyone safe, including frequent hand washing, physical distancing and wearing a mask as recommended.
Talking the pros and cons of the mass vaccination of population, Datta explained that vaccination is one of the tools in a whole range of important tools to reduce and eventually end the tragic impacts of this pandemic.
“Wide age-group vaccination has been conducted by countries in the WHO European Region. Several vaccines proved to be effective in controlling and eliminating some of the vaccine-preventable diseases,” he said.