A file photo of World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who does not want to see booster shots being given for now. Laurent Gillieron/Pool via REUTERS
January 1, 2022: The normally pessimistic and extremely-cautious World Health Organisation is guardedly optimistic that humans can tame the coronavirus this year _ on one huge condition.
True human solidarity, which has been lacking since the pandemic began, must be there, the WHO chief said in his agency’s most updated analysis on the coronavirus-related situation.
Tedros Ghebreyesus insisted that while the pandemic can be overcome, beating the virus would require utmost science and technological harmony. The virus, he said, has come up with Omicron which, together with Delta, can unleash a “tsunami of cases” if human beings fail to put up proper resistance.
He also repeated his grave concern that demands for booster in rich countries could cause low-income nations to again fall short. The WHO director general called on leaders of wealthy and powerful nations and their manufacturers to work together to reach an ambitious global vaccination target of 70 % by July.
“This is the time to rise above short-term nationalism and protect populations and economies against future variants by ending global vaccine inequity,” he said.
Not helping the world’s poor “is not only a moral shame, but it also costs lives and provides the virus with opportunities to circulate unchecked and mutate.”
The quotes were played down by several international news agencies which chose to highlight his “optimism” rather than the emotional plea.
Meanwhile, whereas it’s not difficult to begin this year positively, it’s quite difficult to find political news, in Thailand and abroad, that is not negative.
CNN plays up “disappearing” Tiananmen statues. Opening a Thai website and one finds a blown-up mugshot of Yingluck Shinawatra who was reported to have lambasted the Prayut government and asked Thais to “endure it” in her New Year message. Another Thai site analyses the questionable relationship between Palang Pracharath’s big guns and says Yingluck expects 2022 to be “a very tough year” for Thailand thanks largely to the Prayut administration. To be fair to her, anything can be picked up from her words and headlined.
Simply put, China was discredited from Day One and Yingluck’s New Year post is immediately politicised as expected. It looks like a long and winding road toward complete harmony.
Elsewhere on the Internet, COVID-19 dominates, with Omicron reported to be dampening celebrations with fast and furious spread.
Daily update of local and global politics by Tulsathit Taptim
Source: Thai PBS World