Foreign news

WHO spokesperson reveals details of its expert team visit to Wuhan

Published

4 years ago

January 13, 2021

Even as vaccines are rolled out, COVID-19 continues to ravage the world, having caused nearly 2 million deaths. The situation is in dire need of stronger global cooperation. That spirit can be at least reflected by the latest World Health Organization (WHO) expert team’s visit to China which will start in Wuhan, where the first cases of infections in China were reported.

“This is about understanding what happened so that the world can be better equipped as the world to prevent it happening again,” said WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris in an exclusive interview with CGTN host Tian Wei. She stressed that the field trip is “not about finding someone to blame. Let’s leave the politics out of it.”

Dr. Harris revealed that preparations about the mission started last October. There were a few virtual meetings held since then. This trip will be about a wide variety of subjects related to the discovery research of the origins of COVID-19. While no quick answers are expected.

The WHO team of 10 experts from 10 different countries are expected to visit the Chinese city Wuhan, where cases of infections were first reported at the end of 2019. Yet later discoveries found the presence of the virus in Spain, Italy and the U.S., demonstrating how much is still unknown about the virus.

While the world is bogged down by this pandemic, there appear a few COVID-19 vaccine candidates that have been developed at unprecedented speed. But that very fact has made people uneasy: was it developed too fast? Are those vaccines trustworthy?

“People should be concerned about the safety issues,” noted Dr. Harris, but she explained that one thing that has really slowed down vaccine development in the past was getting the funding for the studies, and this time that part got ample support.

Harris said that only after very careful review of data on issues of safety and efficacy, and visiting manufacturing factories, would the WHO put a vaccine on its Emergency Use Listing (EUL). So far only the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine received the validation at the end of last year, but more announcements could be made as soon as in the next few weeks, according to Harris. Among those are candidates coming from Sinopharm and Sinovac, two Chinese vaccine developers.

The COVAX program was set up by the WHO with GAVI, the vaccine alliance, to help distribute vaccines to more countries. China joined COVAX last year.

Out of the 42 countries that are rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, 36 are high-income countries and six middle-income countries. “So there’s a clear problem that low- and most middle-income countries are not receiving the vaccine yet,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus earlier this month.

“We are not happy that it’s not happening quickly enough,” said Harris, “but we determined to make it happen.”

World Insight with Tian Wei is an international platform for debate and intelligent discussion. It is the meeting point of both the highly influential and rising voices, facilitated by host Tian Wei. It provides nutrition to form your own thoughts and ideas through a 45-minute live debate and interviews.

Schedule: Monday-Saturday

Share on Facebook

Foreign news

NTAC Hails Tinubu; Volunteers Ready to Positively Impact Nigerians

Published

4 days ago

June 4, 2025

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) has commended President Bola Tinubu for funding the Technical Aid Corps (TAC) Scheme.

The Director General (DG) of NTAC , Dr Yusuf Yakub, made the commendation during a ceremony to receive five returning TAC volunteers from Zanzibar, Tanzania on Tuesday in Abuja.
The returning volunteers also expressed readiness to impact knowledge gained from participating in the programme on Nigerians.

TAC is a mechanism for Nigeria’s foreign aid and technical assistance to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries through the use of Nigeria’s abundant trained manpower.

Yakub lauded Tinubu’s visionary leadership and steadfast support for the TAC Scheme.

Welcoming the volunteers who had discharged themselves as worthy ambassadors in Zanzibar, the D-G thanked them for their patriotism, dedication to service and for making Nigeria proud on the international arena.

The NTAC boss highlighted the importance of knowledge-sharing, while announcing that certificates of completion will be presented to the volunteers in line with the noble objectives of the service.

He also emphasised the volunteers’ crucial role in passing on the skills and experiences gained in Zanzibar.

He expressed optimism that their efforts would positively impact the lives of Nigerians across the country and shape the expectations and service-delivery of future prospective volunteers.

Earlier speaking, Amb. Zakari Usman, the Director of Programmes for NTAC, expressed gratitude to the D-G for his unwavering support and provision for the volunteers throughout their service period.
He said that the volunteers had so delivered on the mandate of the agency that citizens of Zanzibar did not want them to leave their country.
Popoola Adegoke, the Team Lead and a Mathematics Instructor for the batch of returning volunteers, was full of gratitude to the Federal Government for providing them the opportunity to participate in the scheme.

Adegoke said that Nigeria, was well blessed and had the abundance of both human and natural resources to contribute meaningfully to the development of many countries of the world.

He said that the need to continue the TAC Scheme was not negotiable, owing to its high impact and results.

Mohammed Salisu, a Physicist, said that the experience had broadened his horizon as his orientation during the last 24 months in Zanzibar, especially on the cultural exchange.

He lauded the government for the scheme, saying that Nigeria is seen and perceived to be higher in all ranking, especially in the standard of living and educational system.

He also appealed to the government to sustain the scheme to close the gaps both the educational and professional systems in the African, Caribbean and the Pacific Countries.
NAN

Share on Facebook