Steffen Thirstrup, the Chief Medical Officer of the European Medicines Agency has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over.
Thistrup’s comments come after United States president Joe Biden said in a statement that the pandemic was over.
“We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over,” said Mr. Biden in a television interview. “If you notice, no-one’s wearing masks,” he said. “Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape… I think it’s changing.”
“We in Europe still consider the pandemic as ongoing and it’s important that member states prepare for rollout of the vaccines and especially the adaptive vaccines to prevent further spread of this disease in Europe,” the EMA chief said in a media briefing.
To date, more than one million Americans have died from Covid.
Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the seven-day average of deaths currently stands at over 400, with more than 3,000 dead in the past week alone.
“I cannot obviously answer why President Biden came to that conclusion,” Thirstrup added.
The World Health Organization has said the pandemic remains a global emergency but the end could be in sight if countries use the tools at their disposal.
