Authorised vaccines effective against all known variants: WHO

Not yet safe to restart international travel, we need to continue to exercise caution, says Hans Kluge, adding that ‘pockets of increasing transmission’ on the continent could quickly spread

COPENHAGEN

Progress against the coronavirus pandemic remains “fragile” and international travel should be avoided, the World Health organisation’s Europe director warned on Thursday, but stressed that authorised vaccines do work against variants of concern.

“Right now, in the face of a continued threat and new uncertainty, we need to continue to exercise caution, and rethink or avoid international travel,” Hans Kluge said, adding that “pockets of increasing transmission” on the continent could quickly spread.

The so-called Indian variant, which may be more transmissible, has now been identified in at least 26 of the 53 countries in the WHO Europe region, Kluge said during his weekly press conference.

But he said that authorised vaccines are effective against the new strain.

“All Covid-19 virus variants that have emerged so far do respond to the available, approved vaccines,” Kluge said, adding that all Covid-19 variants can be controlled with the same public health and social measures used until now.