Thread by @mvankerkhove

Long 🧵

It’s been just over a month since the lifting of the PHEIC for #COVID19 by @WHO @DrTedros.

While the world is moving on… and most people are able to live safely because they have some protection against developing severe disease and dying, they have good access to…

…health care, medicines and information, and they know how to keep themselves and loved ones safe from #COVID19… not all people around the world have this.

Governments can’t move on, must not forget. @WHO isn’t moving on…

…Our job is to inform all and support governments in maintaining the necessary life saving actions, to use our blood, sweat and tears that resulted in substantial gains in surveillance, clinical care, development and access to countermeasures, address underlying inequalities…

…access, affordability to life-saving tools, continued R&D… in the context of all of the current health and non-health threats (e.g., flooding, war, famine, displacement) that we face… we there is still so much more work to do...

…Getting this message right is very difficult but it’s critically important…

I know you don’t want to hear about #COVID19, but it’s our responsibility to inform about current risks AND what you can & governments should do to keep you safe.

This happens every day @WHO with all of our Member States & partners. It may not make news, but it’s happening…

The virus is still circulating in every country, it’s evolving and while it’s not having the same impact it once had in terms of severe disease, it is causing #LongCOVID and deaths in far too many…

We can, collectively, do more to prevent this from happening with the right clinical care and access to medicines for all patients, targeted vaccination boosting in at risk populations in all countries, improved ventilation, strengthened IPC in health facilities…

https://twitter.com/mvankerkhove/status/1634485371785338882

Continued evolution of #SARSCoV2 means we must remain vigilant, we must maintain surveillance, track & assess the variants so that we can be agile in the response. We need to track burden, and in particular #Long COVID, hospitalisations, ICU and deaths…

who.int/activities/tra…

@WHO & governments cannot and will not “move on”… we must persist, remain vigilant, do more to protect the world, keep the world safe, be ready for the current (#COVID19, influenza, Marburg, cholera, Chikungunya, etc) and future threats (disease X) using a One Health approach…

https://twitter.com/laeti_sieffert/status/1663871148340260867

We must keep up the momentum and political memory to make and keep the promises to be better… so much promising work is happening with the pandemic accord discussions and @WHO’s proposed Health Emergency Preparedness, Response & Resilience architecture…

https://twitter.com/drtedros/status/1638999083888136214

We have to continue to support our incredible health and care work force, public health professionals, front line and essential work force across all sectors… they deserve better.

While the emergency of #COVID19 is over, COVID-19 is not.

Our work is not done. Dealing with COVID is preparedness for current and future threats.

Pandemic preparedness is a constant.