The European organization of the World Health Organization (WHO) office on Tuesday called for increased vaccination efforts in Eastern Europe, warning that the omicron “tidal wave” was heading east.
the bureau WHO regional directorHans Kluge, noted that in the last two weeks, COVID-19 cases had more than doubled in six countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia and Ukraine.
“As expected, the Omicron wave is moving is. Ten eastern member states have now detected this variant,” Kluge said.
WHO Europe region includes 53 countries including several in Central Asia.
Kluge lamented that taking the vaccine is still relatively slow in rooms of the region.
Less than 40% of over-60s have completed their COVID-19 vaccine series in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
He added this in Bulgaria, Georgia and North Macedonia less than 40% of health care workers had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I call on governments, health authorities and relevant partners to closely examine the local reasons influencing the decline demand and acceptance, and design tailored interventions to urgently increase vaccination rates, on context-specific evidence,” Kluge said.
He pointed out that in the face of an “Omicron tidal wave” and “with Delta is still circulating widely in the East”, it was “not the time to lift the measures that we know work in reduce the spread of COVID-19[FEMININE”[FEMININE”
These measures include avoiding crowds locations, wearing masks inside, improving ventilation and using rapid tests to identify cases early, Kluge added.
