End of public health emergency agreed, say experts

The decision by the World Health Organization (WHO) to put an end to the classification of covid-19 as a public health emergency of international importance was already expected and was right, according to experts from different areas consulted by Agência Brasil. In just over three years, the disease caused almost 7 million deaths and 765 million cases worldwide, but it was already considered under control. The epidemiologist and professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in the United States, Pedro Hallal said that the decision announced this Friday (5) is correct, but cannot be misinterpreted. “The fact that the end of the emergency was decreed does not mean that the end of covid-19 was decreed. The disease still exists, but, at the moment, it happens at controlled levels. What determines the state of emergency is when the disease is out of control. So, due to the fact that control of the pandemic has been achieved, especially with vaccination, it makes sense that it is no longer a health emergency,” he said. The researcher compares that, like other diseases present in the daily lives of the population, covid-19 will continue to be a public health problem, despite no longer being an emergency. “Diabetes is a public health problem and it is not a health emergency. Acute myocardial infarction, physical inactivity and obesity are public health problems, but they are not health emergencies. The only thing that cannot be confused is the end of the pandemic with the end of covid-19”, he warns. The president of the Brazilian Society of Infectology, Alberto Chebabo, said that the decision was already expected, because the disease has presented epidemiological data compatible with other endemic respiratory diseases, such as the flu. “Covid-19 has entered the characteristics of an endemic disease with epidemic outbreaks, as with other respiratory diseases. We no longer have the same impact that we had on the hospital network, on mortality and serious cases, as we had in 2020 and 2021”, he said. The infectologist highlights the role of vaccination for this scenario to have changed and also considers that the disease will continue in the routine of health services around the world. “We celebrate the end of the international public health emergency, but the disease will remain present in our lives. The virus will not disappear and there will still be some epidemic outbreaks, as with other respiratory viruses, which also have an impact at times with an increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths”. Pediatric infectologist Renato Kfouri, vice-president of the Brazilian Society of Immunizations and president of the Immunization Department of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics, explains that one of the main reasons why the emergency lasted until today was the need to guarantee resources for poor countries to invest in disease control. “This was maintained, although some countries had already abandoned this terminology, because the World Health Organization understands that, in order to provide resources to poorer countries, investments in surveillance and vaccine offers, it was still necessary to maintain this denomination”, he said. Kfouri considers that the covid-19 pandemic was probably the biggest health problem faced by this generation, with challenges of different natures. “We had major challenges, with regard to public policies to contain transmission, with lockdowns, distances and the use of masks and the political use of these recommendations. Many denialists from countries like ours and the United States made political use of the mask, the vaccine , or they tried to minimize the problem, and unfortunately, after just over three years, we reached this sad balance for humanity and for the families who lost their family, friends and loved ones”. The doctor argues that it is necessary to use the lessons of this pandemic to prepare for the next ones, preventing problems such as increased inequality from recurring when facing a health emergency. “This pandemic took everyone by surprise. There were no supplies, there were no masks, and the poorest, not only in countries, but within the same population, were the ones who suffered the most. The pandemic accentuated inequality in all places. it’s a moment of reflection, so that we can look forward and backwards and program our future, because others will come. This certainly won’t be the last and I hope we can be more prepared to face them”.

Agência Brasil