WHO gives Portugal as an example of the effectiveness of covid-19 vaccines

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers that the number of cases and deaths in Portugal demonstrates the effectiveness of vaccines against covid-19, but warns that immunization alone “is not enough to end the pandemic”.

“Portugal has a very high vaccination coverage.a and the number of cases is much lower than it has been throughout this pandemic. The mortality rate is also very low, despite the fact that each of these deaths is tragic”, said the technical head of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the pandemic.

At a press conference, Maria Van Kerkhove stressed that the main goal of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus is to prevent severe cases of covid-19 and deaths, which is happening in countries with high vaccination rates.

“The covid-19 vaccines being used are incredibly effective at preventing hospitalizations. and the need for people to have to go to intensive care units and die. What we see in Portugal, as well as in many countries, is this happening. The data supports this. This is good news”, said the epidemiologist.

Despite this, Maria Van Kerkhove warned that “vaccines alone are not enough to end the pandemic”, reiterating that the WHO continues to “strongly advise” the adoption of other measures, such as distancing, wearing a mask and ventilating indoor spaces, as a way to prevent the spread of infections.

“We have several tools that are currently available, which can not only save lives, but also reduce the transmission” of the virus, assured the technical responsible for the WHO, who admitted that the number of infections in Europe increases with the arrival of winter.

“Europe has seen a case growth in the last five weeks and an increase in deaths in the last six weeks,” said Maria Van Kerkhove.

The Minister of Health warned that “an aggravation” of the epidemiological situation of the covid-19 pandemic last week, advancing that this scenario “was somehow expected” and follows the European situation.

“The epidemiological situation in the country over the last week has seen a worsening, this worsening follows what is the European situation,” he said Dreaded Marta, at the press conference held after the Council of Ministers, where it was decided to extend the alert situation due to the covid-19 pandemic until 30 November.

The government official also said that the estimates and analyzes of epidemiological modeling carried out by the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge point to 1,300 confirmed cases on November 7th, if the current risk of transmission remains.

The minister explained that, in the last week, the cumulative incidence to 14 days was situated at 94 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, despite being “an incidence that is below what is the average today registered in the countries of the European Union, which is 235 cases per 100,000 inhabitants”.

According to Marta Temido, this incidence has been increasing “in line with the risk of effective transmission, which is above one 16 days ago and now stands at 1.08”.