Thread by @yaneerbaryam

Vaccines alone won’t end the Covid pandemic, says New Zealand former PM Helen Clark

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said one of the biggest challenges she’s faced in managing the Covid outbreak was to proactively respond to spikes in cases.

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Covid-19 still spreading globally and a “vaccine-only” strategy won’t bring the pandemic to an end, former New Zealand PM Helen Clark said Thursday. “What I would say to the countries ... [that] have been successful with vaccine rollouts is: that won’t do it alone,”

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“You must be able to calibrate, bring back in or maintain public health measures relevant to the epidemiological state of the pandemic and your country at the time,” she added.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said one of the biggest challenges she’s faced in managing the Covid outbreak was to proactively respond to spikes in cases.
“So once you see cases rising dramatically, you have to intervene immediately,”

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She warned that the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet over as Germany is once again experiencing a resurgence in cases. “Unfortunately, Germany is in the midst of the fourth wave now. We are registering a high increase in numbers."

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"People may believe that it is a thing of the past, but we have to realize it’s not over,” Merkel said Friday

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The “very inequitable” rollout of vaccines is partly to blame for prolonging the pandemic, said Clark. “We’re not really going to be safe in New Zealand, Canada, or China, or wherever unless everyone in the world had opportunity to have access to vaccines and therapeutics"

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