Radical clarity is needed on jab safety – WHO boss

It will be a true tragedy if the public refuses to take efficacious vaccines for COVID-19, Dr Michael J Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said today. 

He called for “radical transparency” from governments on vaccine studies and data.

Planned-for vaccination will get life "back to normal", he said, but public health officials should still be held to account for their decisions.

That means completing studies and ensuring the full safety and efficacy of the vaccine, he continued.

We need an open dialogue about the safety issues, Dr Ryan continued.

Human rights award

The Bar of Ireland presented its 2020 Human Rights Award to Dr Ryan today.

Vaccines, added to continued vigilance, are a massive tool for control of the virus, without continued highly-disruptive societal shutdowns, Dr Ryan said today.

The dislocation of lockdowns has led to mental health and other traumas, he continued.

Front-line workers and other vulnerable people must be in the first round of vaccinations, he said.

“We have real tools now potentially at our disposal, but it’s like reaching the base camp of Mount Everest,” he said.

“Now, we’ve got to climb the mountain.”

Useless polemic

Disinformation about the virus has created useless polemic, he said.

However, we have fought hard for open societies and should not "shut down" those who disagree, but rather win them over with dialogue and debate.

Good and credible information will counteract confusion, he said, but the public health community must win hearts and minds, with effective communication.

“We need to embrace the internet and get better at communications,” he said.

“The best way to destroy my enemies is to make them my friends,” he said, quoting Abraham Lincoln.

We are dealing with a tsunami of information, and the problem is working out which bits to listen to, he continued.

Dr Ryan said that current virus restrictions are a social contract between the Government and its people and that a calibrated set of measures must be agreed upon by society.

Calculated risks

People are smart, he continued, and manage calculated risks all the time.

As human beings, we are designed as risk managers, he said.

Our whole survival as a species is based on that capacity, but clear information is needed to make those decisions.

Dr Ryan said it is very important to balance both individual and community rights and responsibilities.

Lockdown restrictions involved a series of trade-offs and genuine dilemmas for which there are no correct scientific answers, he said.

Tactics

“It is a game of margins, and marginal activity in one direction or the other can change the course of any event.

“Decisions on tactics affect the outcome, how much you win, or how badly you lose,” he continued.

Dr Ryan said countries in Asia have a strong cultural memory of epidemics which may have driven their highly-compliant response to the current pandemic.

“Contagion is a much more frightening word in Asia than it seems be in the West,” he said.

Asia had approached the virus with a centralised strategy, but decentralised and targeted control action, he pointed out.

Inequities

Dr Ryan told the webinar that he grew up keenly aware of inequities in Irish society.

He saw the difficulties his mother faced after she was widowed and left to rear three sons alone in a conservative West of Ireland.

Growing up in Bellaghy on the Sligo-Mayo border meant he was "drawn to the periphery", he said.

Dr Ryan paid tribute to selfless teachers in his local secondary school who encouraged his desire to study medicine.

The Bar of Ireland presented the award for Dr Ryan’s tireless work and leadership in the field of public health.

Dr Ryan has been at the forefront of managing acute risks to global health for nearly 25 years.

Assurance

Maura McNally SC, chair of The Bar of Ireland, said; “The swift, expert guidance provided by the World Health Organisation since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has provided great assurance and assistance to people and countries all over the world.

“That its response is headed up by an Irish man has been a particular source of pride and comfort for people in this country.

“To hear one of our own provide such authoritative advice in press briefings at the peak of the pandemic was particularly reassuring.”