The World Health Organization calls for a freeze on the third vaccine until 10% of the world's population is vaccinated

The Director General of the World Health Organization is angry with countries that started vaccinating before a vaccine against the corona virus was promised of at least ten percent of the residents of each country, and in particular the developing countries * Demographer Prof. Uzi Rabhon from the Hebrew University calls for vaccination with the third vaccine and together with additional precautions to overcome the wave

The World Health Organization WHO calls for a freeze on giving a third vaccine until at least the end of September. This is what the Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says today during a briefing in Geneva.

Not that the World Health Organization is against vaccinations, on the contrary the call is intended to allow the vaccination of at least 10% of the population of every country in the world against the corona virus. For this to happen, we need everyone's cooperation, especially the handful of countries and companies that control the global supply of vaccines," he said.

"Even as hundreds of millions of people are still waiting for their first dose, some rich countries are moving towards a third vaccine," Tedros added. "So far, more than 4 billion doses of vaccine have been administered worldwide. More than 80% came to countries with high and high middle income, even though they make up less than half of the world's population."

While countries such as Germany, Great Britain and Israel have announced the provision of booster shots to certain populations, and when the rich countries have given or have in stock vaccines at least once for the entire population, poor countries do not even manage to provide 1.5 doses per 100 people. Tedros said.

Tedros called on the G20 leaders to make a concrete commitment to support the WHO's global vaccination goals, for vaccine manufacturers to prioritize the COVAX project (a project that provides vaccines to developing countries that do not have adequate health infrastructure) and for everyone with influence to support the call for a freeze on vaccines.

Israel can handle the fourth wave

The corona virus is defined as a worldwide epidemic, but its health profile varies greatly between countries. This is also true when focusing on modern and industrialized countries, such as those that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), including Israel. For example, at the end of the first hundred days after the discovery of the first confirmed case in China, there were 109 patients per hundred thousand inhabitants in Israel, 258 in Switzerland, and 539 in Iceland; And while in Norway at that time the number of dead was one per thousand patients, in Israel it was seven and in France 133. A new study conducted at the Hebrew University by demographer Prof. Uzi Rabhon, from the Research Institute for Contemporary Judaism, published in Migration Letters under the title "Differences between countries in prevalence COVID-19 from a social science point of view", examined the epidemiological factors of the population characteristics and environmental factors, which can explain differences between countries in the timing when the epidemic first broke out, extent of morbidity, and mortality rates among those infected.

To this end, the researcher built a database, at the country level, of dependent variables from daily reports of the World Health Organization, and independent variables taken from official publications of major organizations in the world, including the United Nations and the World Bank. The data were combined into a model that examined which factors are more influential, and which are less. According to the findings of the study, it became clear that the greater the number of immigrants in the country, the earlier the outbreak of the corona occurred in the vicinity. Immigrants often live in crowded ethnic niches, do not know enough of the local language to understand instructions on precautions, while those among them who are illegal will avoid testing for carriers of the disease and may therefore infect family members and close friends.

On the other hand, the level of religiosity of the residents has a moderating effect on the corona, that is, the more religious the population, the waves of the epidemic erupt at a later stage - possibly because believers use religion to deal with medical hardships, and do not rush to seek medical treatment. Religiosity has also been found to reduce mortality rates because it provides patients with community-social help, emotional support, and hope for recovery beyond the objective health chances - every one percent increase in the number of residents with a strong religious identity is expected to reduce mortality rates by about a third.

At the same time, it was found that high concentrations of population in urban settlements and a high level of density increased both morbidity and mortality. From this it is also possible to understand why a high gross domestic product, which is an approximation of social welfare and level of consumption, increases the number of patients on average in the country by about two-thirds - it is related to a high frequency of leisure activities and social gatherings, which produce intense personal contacts that increase the risk of infection.

The factor that has the strongest impact is the state's preparation and the safety measures it takes in the face of the epidemic. Isolations, closures, surveillance, tests, transparency of information, restrictions on tourism, the quality of medical services and previous experiences in national emergencies - all of these are ultimately the most significant factors in effectively dealing with the corona virus, and can reduce by about half the number of patients and of them, at a similar rate , the number of deceased. According to this factor, which consists of 130 different parameters that were adopted for the current study, at the end of the first hundred days of the corona outbreak, Israel was ranked first among the OECD countries and its performance at that time made it a role model for other countries in the world.

"Until medical research fully understands the structure of the corona virus and develops a vaccine and drugs that cover all mutations, it will be necessary to adopt and improve epidemiological approaches," clarifies Prof. Rabhon. The policy of returning the green card, restrictions on travel and entry from abroad, and the third vaccination for the older population, and perhaps future cautious steps can ensure success in dealing with the new and fourth wave of the epidemic."

More of the topic in Hayadan:

.