WHO Warns About New Coronavirus That Can Infect Even The Fully Vaccinated

Officials of the WHO advises Fully Vaccinated People to Wear Masks as new Delta Variant Spreads

WHO Warns About New Coronavirus That Can Infect Even The Fully Vaccinated
Wear a mask

While the CDC encouraged unvaccinated people to stop wearing masks last month, World Health Organization officials are urging the opposite. 

With the COVID-19 Delta variant spreading internationally, WHO official Dr Mariangela Simao said that “people cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves,” according to CNBC. 

Simao, WHO’s assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, added during a briefing in Geneva that the vaccine “alone won’t stop community transmission.”

“People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene,” Simao said, “the physical distance, avoid crowding. This still continues to be extremely important, even if you’re vaccinated when you have a community transmission ongoing.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that half of the adults infected during a delta variant outbreak were vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as WHO claims that delta is becoming the dominant variant on a global scale. 

“Yes, you can reduce some measures and different countries have different recommendations in that regard,” said Dr Bruce Aylward, a senior advisor to the WHO’s director-general. “But there’s still the need for caution. As we are seeing, there are new variants emerging.”

According to WHO officials, the variant—which President Joe Biden has called a “serious concern”—has now been found in 92 countries as of Friday.

Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said the variant could be “more lethal because it’s more efficient in the way it transmits between humans and it will eventually find those vulnerable individuals who will become severely ill, have to be hospitalized and potentially die.”