Coronavirus | SII CEO appeals to U.S. seeking lifting of embargo on export of raw material for vaccine

Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India, the world’s greatest vaccine maker, has on Friday tweeted an attraction to US president Joe Biden seeking lifting of the embargo on U.S. exports of raw supplies which he stated is hurting its manufacturing of Covid-19 pictures.

In his tweet he stated: “If we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details.” SII is making the AstraZeneca COVID-vaccine.

The attraction comes when World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday urged nations in South-East Asia Region to apply all instruments to forestall additional infections and save lives.

“Cases are rising for the past several weeks. These are worrying trends as we continue to see opening of societies and emergence of variants. Basic public health measures remain the foundation of pandemic response and we need to reinforce them. We need to apply all the tools we have, and apply them together” stated Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region.

Surveillance, testing, contact tracing, isolation, supportive quarantine and compassionate care — all of them work to cease infections and save lives, and so do vaccines, she stated.

Consistent use of masks, hand hygiene, air flow, social distancing continues to be our greatest guards even immediately, and must be strictly adopted, even by individuals who have already been vaccinated.

On the position of virus variants within the present surge of instances, Dr. Singh stated, WHO has been monitoring variants globally for the reason that starting of the COVID-19 outbreak. With the emergence of new variants of concern, these efforts have been stepped up to arrange methods to shortly establish and examine rising variants.

The info on the incidence of variants isn’t systematic and common but. WHO is working with nations for genomic sequencing on a subset of instances. We are working with the scientific group to encourage wider sharing of sequences together with their metadata, she stated.

But regardless of which variants are circulating, the fundamental measures stay the identical.

To restrict the emergence of variants of issues, we’d like to do all we will to curtail virus transmission. Stringent implementation of public well being measures together with full group participation by adopting COVID-19 applicable behaviour is the easiest way to cease transmission of each the virus and its variants, the Regional Director stated, emphasizing that “the more we let the virus circulate, the more variants we will get”.

On instances of re-infections, Dr Khetrapal Singh stated, “from previous experience with other coronaviruses we expect antibody response to decline over time. We are still learning how strong the immunity is or how long it may last. There are some reports of reinfections, though this is not systematically monitored yet.”

“We urge everyone — whether they have had COVID-19 or not — to take all precautions including physical distancing, hand and respiratory hygiene, wearing a mask and ensuring adequate ventilation to prevent getting or spreading COVID-19”, the Regional Director stated. Meanwhile, each time vaccine is obtainable, individuals are strongly inspired to get vaccinated, as it will present further safety.

As nations within the Region impose lockdowns and restriction within the wake of rising instances, Dr Khetrapal Singh stated, “physical distancing measures and movement restrictions can slow COVID 19 transmission by limiting contact between people. However, a careful risk assessment and staged approach is needed to balance the benefits and potential harms of adjusting these measures. Decisions to tighten or loosen or re-institute these measures should be based on scientific evidence and real-world experience and should take into account other critical factors, such as economic factors, food security, adherence to measures etc. Local epidemiology and risk assessment, including capacities of health systems should guide any such decision.”

Regardless of lockdowns, public well being and social measures stay the important thing to cease virus transmission. Efforts to take a look at, hint, isolate, and deal with — have to be scaled up together with communities working towards cough etiquette, hand hygiene and bodily distancing.

On scaling up vaccination and increasing it to cowl all age teams, particularly in areas reporting steep hike in instances, Dr Singh stated, “countries across the Region are prioritizing the high risk and the most vulnerable populations for vaccination — the health and frontline workers, the elderly, and people with ailments that can cause complications and life threatening conditions if they get COVID-19.”

“Vaccines are a vital and powerful tool. But they are not the only tool. Physical distancing works. Masks work. Hand hygiene works. Ventilation works. Vaccines work. Testing, contact tracing, isolation, and providing treatment – they all work to stop infections and save lives, but they must be implemented together,” Dr Khetrapal Singh stated, including that “the need of the hour is for one and all to contribute their best to stop further spread of COVID-19 virus”.