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The World Health Organization warned on Thursday (23) in a statement that there is no evidence that people who have recovered from Covid-19 are protected against a new infection. According to the organization, so-called “immune passports” may favor the spread of the pandemic.
Some governments have raised the idea of distributing documents that support the immunity of people based on serological tests, which reveal the presence of antibodies in the blood. Passports would allow populations to be removed from confinement, allowing them to return to work and resume economic activity.
But the efficacy of an immunization thanks to the antibodies has not been proven until now by the available scientific information, which would not justify an “immune passport” or a “risk-free certificate”, the WHO warns.
“People who think they are immunized against reinfection because they tested positive may ignore public health recommendations. The use of this type of certificates could result in an increase in continuous transmissions ”, insists the organization.
The WHO also states that currently used serological tests “need additional validation to determine their precision and reliability.”
The tests should differentiate the immune response to the new coronavirus from the antibodies produced during an infection by any of the six other currently known human coronaviruses. Among them, four are frequent and cause benign colds. The other two are the causes of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
People infected with any of these viruses can produce antibodies that interact with antibodies produced in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, so they need to be identified, according to the WHO.
Historical initiative
The UN launched, on Friday (24), a global initiative to accelerate the production of vaccines and treatments against COVID-19. The decision was presented during a virtual conference, which brought together various countries, international organizations, including WHO, foundations and private companies.
“It is a historic collaboration to accelerate the development, production and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostic tests and treatments for COVID-19,” said WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Our common commitment is to ensure that everyone has access to all instruments that aim to succeed over COVID-19,” he added.
Combating the current pandemic will be “the most massive public health effort in history,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Specifically, the cooperation mechanism that should be adopted in the context of this initiative was not informed. Regarding the financial package, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will supervise a donor conference on May 4 with the aim of raising € 7.5 billion (R $ 45.42 billion reais).
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian heads of government Giuseppe Conte and Spanish Heads Pedro Sánchez as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also spoke.
Neither China, where the first cases of the new coronavirus were announced in late December, nor the United States, now the epicenter of the pandemic with nearly 50,000 deaths and 900,000 cases, were represented.
In a subsequent message sent to AFP, a spokesman for the US representation said that United States officials remained “deeply concerned about the effectiveness of the WHO, considering that its serious errors contributed to the current pandemic.”
