Experts discuss WHO's recent COVID-related statement

Editor's note:After the conclusion of its 14th International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee, the World Health Organization issued a statement that the novel coronavirus pandemic remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Why did it make that decision and what are its possible consequences? Two experts share their views with writer Zhang Zhouxiang:

Talking about the COVID-19 pandemic, one sad but undeniable fact is that it will co-exist with us humans for the long-term, like the flu. That requires society to make seasonal arrangements to protect vulnerable groups, like vaccinating the seniors who have a weak immune system and the medical staff who have higher risks of being exposed to the virus for example, so as to prevent the worse from happening.

Besides, past experiences show that the antibodies inside human bodies might gradually diminish or even disappear around three months after vaccination. Therefore, experts predict the risk of a second wave from March to June. A corresponding plan should be made in advance, with the vulnerable groups such as seniors and the high-risk groups being paid special attention to. Especially, ample research must be done on the vaccines so as to make them more effective.

In China, it is the effective control and prevention measures that helped China to pass the high risks safely, without any new waves emerging again. Actually, even though there are still multiple Omicron variants such as XBB, BA.7 and BA.5, many experts have already predicted that the mutations might come to an end within the next generation. It will still be a B-level epidemic in the law that must be guarded against, but the risks of it rising fiercely again are not that high.

The situation facing the whole world is also quite good, as many experts believe that the pandemic is approaching its end. But as an organization, WHO will naturally tend to be cautious concerning the life and health of the public, which is a responsible attitude.

With situations constantly improving, the day when WHO announces an end to PHIEC will not be that far away.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic as a topic is increasingly getting out of the attention of the international society, its negative effects upon the global human health and social economic life remains.

To quote a column fromNew England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)on Feb 2, in the US alone deaths from COVID-19 still range from 300 to 500 daily, which reflects a higher death burden than the severe flu. Further, a glimpse back at the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that the original variant, Delta variant and Omicron variant all had their peaks, among which Omicron caused the largest number of deaths in certain countries and regions because of its high infection rate. Besides that, the German health minister and several of his colleagues had all discussed about the high excessive fatality of their nations.

All these support the WHO's decision, namely that the COVID-19 pandemic is still a problem worth paying attention to. Currently quite a majority of the global population have already derived short-and middle-term antibodies from vaccinations or past infections that could effectively lower the risk of severity or death, but they prove not that effective in cutting the virus from spreading and infecting more people. With the possibility of trans-species spreading, we might have to co-exist with the COVID-19 virus for quite a considerable length of time.

Worse, Long COVID in the West had already cast negative influences upon quite a many people in their daily work and life. In 2022, the UK, the US and Australia had all published their reports on Long COVID to study the persistent problems of COVID facing people. For individuals, health risks still exist, prompting everyone to take effective care.