WHO epidemiologist: 'We're getting further away from the end' of COVID-19 pandemic


Infectious disease experts, like World Health Organization epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, are dismayed at the world's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic at the moment, The Washington Post reports.
Coronavirus infections are rising swiftly in the United States and elsewhere, and deaths and hospitalizations are ticking back up, as well, largely due to stalled vaccination drives and the growing presence of the so-called delta variant, which is more transmissible. "We're getting further away from the end than we should be," Van Kerkhove told the Post. "We're in a bad place right now globally."
Despite all that, people — and governments — in several parts of the world are not always adhering to the same precautions as they did earlier in the pandemic. "It's like we've been to this movie several times in the last year and a half, and it doesn't end well," Collins told the Post. "Somehow, we're running the tape again. It's all predictable." Read more at The Washington Post.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sick
speed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
US overdose deaths plunged 27% last year
speed read Drug overdose still 'remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-44,' said the CDC
-
Trump seeks to cut drug prices via executive order
speed read The president's order tells pharmaceutical companies to lower prescription drug prices, but it will likely be thrown out by the courts
-
RFK Jr.: A new plan for sabotaging vaccines
Feature The Health Secretary announced changes to vaccine testing and asks Americans to 'do your own research'
-
RFK Jr. visits Texas as 2nd child dies from measles
Speed Read An outbreak of the vaccine-preventable disease continues to grow following a decade of no recorded US measles deaths
-
Shingles vaccine cuts dementia risk, study finds
Speed Read Getting vaccinated appears to significantly reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
-
Five years on: How Covid changed everything
Feature We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, but they have completely reshaped politics