In a press conference, the Secretary of State for Public Health, Carlos Alberto Pinto, said that Angola welcomes the WHO declaration, “which means a victory of health professionals, scientific community and all other actors, with emphasis to the whole population that has consented to countless sacrifices”.
Carlos Alberto Pinto said that vaccination was a crucial element for the control of the emergency phase of the pandemic at a global level so far.
“Therefore, he will continue to promote the vaccination against Covid-19 in the country as a primary strategy for the control of the disease in order to save lives, lower the number of severe cases and deaths that are still being registered in the country”, said the Angolan Secretary of State for Public Health.
The minister stressed that, currently, vaccination coverage in Angola is 47% with at least two doses, stressing that for it to be effective in group immunity it must, according to the WHO, be above 85%, “this being the country’s challenge for which everyone is called to participate.”
“The Ministry of Health will adapt the country’s contingency plan to the WHO’s long-term covid-19 management plan 2023-2025, in which it will adopt additional recommendations for this transition phase to the current measures according to the country’s epidemiological situation and vaccination coverage,” he stressed.
In this sense, Carlos Alberto Pinto made an appeal, “once again, to the population to adhere to vaccination, because it saves lives and allows the WHO to reduce the alert level”.
Angola notified the first two cases of Covid-19 on March 21, 2020, having registered 105,669 cases and 1,936 deaths until May 05 of this year, having gone through four waves caused by the variants of global concern. Carlos Alberto Pinto praised the Angolan health system for having withstood the pressure of the demand, “without ever collapsing, guaranteeing the continuity of health services to the population”.
On March 02, 2021, Angola incorporated the implementation of the Vaccination Plan, “which was crucial for the considered successful management of the pandemic in what concerns the number of severe cases and deaths”, indicated Carlos Alberto Pinto.
“In light of this history, the Ministry of Health takes good note of the WHO Director-General’s warnings in his statement regarding caution and prudence in handling this news”, he noted, emphasizing that the process of the transition from the emergency to the Covid-19 control phase is already underway.