Increased vaccination needed among healthcare workers – WHO

…amid high infections, deaths

The World Health Organisation has amplified calls for health workers to get vaccinated, in light of growing trends which indicate increased infections and deaths among this subset.
“Health and care workers are the foundation of health systems and the driving force to achieving universal health coverage and global health security. Their commitment and professionalism throughout the pandemic are evident to all: extraordinary people, performing extraordinary work. However, too many of them have become infected, ill or died as a result of COVID-19,” said the agency.
The WHO estimates that between 80,000 and 180,000 healthcare workers could have died from COVID-19 in the period between January 2020 to May 2021, converging to a medium scenario of 115,500 deaths.
“These deaths are a tragic loss. They are also an irreplaceable gap in the world’s pandemic response. Encouragingly, the reported rate of infections and deaths among health and care workers has reduced over time: but the world cannot be complacent. More work is needed to minimise the risk of infection in the workplace.”
As of September 2021, available data from 119 countries suggest that two in five health and care workers were fully vaccinated on average, with considerable difference across regions and economic groupings. Fewer than one in 10 have been fully vaccinated in the African and Western Pacific regions, while 22 mostly high-income countries reported that above 80 per cent of their personnel are fully vaccinated.
The Steering Committee of the International Year of Health and Care Workers, in coordination with a press conference with WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, also issued a joint statement underscoring their deep concern about the probable number of deaths, the overall low rate of vaccinations and the vaccine inequities among health and care workers in low- and middle-income countries.
The Joint Statement called for immediate and concrete action to protect health and care workers, strengthen data collection and reporting on infections, ill-health and deaths among health and care workers due to COVID-19; protect health and care workers during and beyond the current global COVID-19 pandemic; and accelerate the vaccination of all health and care workers in all countries.
“Failure to take action undermines the physical, mental, and social well-being of those individuals we depend upon to manage the pandemic. Recognition and commemoration are not enough. It is our moral obligation to protect and invest in health and care workers. And we must move forward together,” said the WHO.
A few weeks ago, Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony had disclosed that a majority of persons in the sector have been vaccinated. He explained that this leaves the unvaccinated health workers in the minority.
With the Delta and other variants proving to be even deadlier – the Health Minister shared concerns if health workers remain unvaccinated and remain on the frontlines.
As of August 1, the Guyana Government mandated that healthcare workers be vaccinated against the life-threatening virus. Failure to do so would mean that they would be required to submit regular PCR tests to prove that they were not infected with the disease. (G12)