1. Short thread from @WHO's weekly press conference. Covid-19 remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the @WHO emergency committee decided at a meeting last week. Today @drtedros said he agrees.
2. The EC chair, Didier Houssin, said for the first time at this meeting, the committee talked about the possibility of terminating the PHEIC. But the committee concluded it was too early to do so. Among other things, they want to see how this winter goes in the NHemisphere.
3. @DrTedros revealed that @WHO and partners have decided to effectively ration #Cholera vaccines, because of a global shortage. Normally cholera vax is given in 2 doses but will be used as a 1 dose vaccine. This strategy has been shown to be effective before.
4. @DrMikeRyan noted that vaxes like #cholera don't earn big money for the manufacturers, which makes it hard to keep production at levels that can meet the burgeoning need.
5. On #Ebola, @drtedros said @WHO is concerned that there may be more chains of transmission in Uganda than have been recognized. For instance, eight recent cases were not among known contacts of cases — that is a bad sign.
6. Back to cholera: @drmikeryan noted pointedly that there would be no problem finding the money to boost #cholera vaccine production if cholera was affecting affluent countries. @WHO
7. @SCBriand notes that with climate change, the number of places that could be endemic for #cholera is increasing. She said the world needs to invest not only in production of more vaccine but in ensuring access to clean water in places where the causative bacterium is found.
8. @WHO's emergency committee on #monkeypox meets tomorrow. The number of new cases has dropped for 8 weeks in a row, @drtedros said, noting though that risks and uncertainties remain.
9. @drtedros pleaded for the world to address the situation in Ethiopia, his home country. "I am running out of diplomatic language for the deliberate targeting of civilians in Tigray," he said.
10. "There is no other situation globally in which nearly 6M people have been kept under siege for nearly 2 yrs," @drtedros said. "Banking, fuel, food, electricity & health care are being used as weapons of war....The world is not paying enough attention."
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