“Every new disease outbreak presents new challenges but from a logistics perspective, #covid19 has been one of the toughest challenges we’ve ever faced ”, says @drtedros at @WHO presser on #covid19 as he outlines “key logistical hurdles we have faced in the last eight months”.

"By the second week of January China had mapped the genome and shared it with WHO and with the wider world”, says @drtedros. "We rapidly published a how-to on building a PCR test for #COVID-19 from our partner lab in Germany."

"In the third week, WHO identified and began contracting for validated production of these tests. By the first week of February we began shipping tests to over 150 labs around the world”, says @drtedros.

Surge in demand for PPE such as masks was made worse by lockdowns, collapse in air transport and export restrictions, says @drtedros. “Supply nationalism exacerbated the pandemic and contributed to the total failure of the global supply chain for a period of time."

The response to this pandemic has to be collective, says @drtedros. "This is not charity. We have learned the hard way that the fastest way to end this pandemic and to reopen economies, is to start by protecting the highest risk populations everywhere."

"No one country has access to research and development, manufacturing, and all the supply chain for all essential medicines and materials”, says @drtedros. Opening remarks today an extended pitch for working together. Vaccine nationalism clearly on everyone’s mind.

“If we can work together, we can ensure that all essential workers are protected and proven treatments like dexamethasone are available to those who need them”, says @drtedros. "It's critical that countries don't repeat the same mistakes. We need to prevent vaccine nationalism."

"We are all so interconnected”, says @drtedros. “Vaccine developed in one country may need to be filled in vials with stoppers that are produced in another, using materials for the high-grade glass that's only available from yet another country."

Q about what to expect in northern hemisphere with flu season coming.
@mvankerkhove says for last reporting period, 20.7 to 2.8., almost 300,000 specimens for influenza were tested, and only 37 were positive for influenza. “So it seems like the circulation is low."

“It is really really important that when the vaccine becomes available for the flu, that people do take that vaccine", says @mvankerkhove, since any influenza illness will add to burden on health system.

Q about when herd immunity is reached.
“What we've learned from the studies available to date is that less than 10% of the population has evidence of antibodies against #SARSCOV2 virus”, says @mvankerkhove.

“When somebody is infected with this virus, we expect that they develop an immune response”, says @mvankerkhove. "What we don't know is for how strong that is, and for how long that will last, but those studies are currently underway."

Herd immunity against #covid19 is far off, says @DrMikeRyan. “There is no question in my mind, we're a long way from that, and will remain a long way from that in the absence of an effective vaccine.”

“There's a lot to be worked out between the scientists”, says @DrMikeRyan. “But I think what we can say with certainty is: right now as a planet, as a global population, we’re nowhere close to the levels of immunity required to stop this disease transmitting."

"We need to focus on what we can actually do now to suppress transmission and not live in hope of herd immunity being our salvation right now. That is not a solution”, says @drmikeryan.

“We tend to confuse vaccination coverage with the proportion of the population that's immune”, adds Bruce Aylward. Vaccine may only work in 80% of people or fewer, so that needs to be taken into account when calculating needed vaccine coverage.

Q about the circulating video of a pool party from Wuhan.
"I would like to point out that I have seen almost exactly that same picture in probably every country globally right now”, says @mvankerkhove. “If it's possible to avoid these crowded places, please do so."

Q: asking for an update on COVAX (I wrote about what that is here: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/vaccine-nationalism-threatens-global-plan-distribute-covid-19-shots-fairly)
"The agreement terms which a country would sign to join the facility are just being finalized”, says Aylward. Countries should firmly indicate if they want to sign up by 31st August.

Q about hurdles in getting countries to sign up to COVAX.
Aylward: “We're not twisting arms for people to join the facility. This is in the interest of countries to pool their risk to reduce the risk of an individual country"

Aylward says one big hurdle is how to make COVAX work in parallel with bilateral deals. "We've had more and more discussions with a broader and broader group of players and try to work through what might be the barriers to collaborating”, mentions issues around price and timing.

Last q is from Denmark (and alludes to TCM being included in ICD-11):
“Can you imagine fighting #COVID19 with the secretion
extracted from the gallbladder of a live bear and how many doctors do you estimate would be required to hold the bear down while doing so?”