*World racing to deploy vaccines to beat Sars-CoV-2 mutation, says Biden's chief medical adviser
The global community is in a race to access and deploy vaccines faster than Sars-CoV-2 can mutate into more transmissible and deadly variants, US President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser for Covid-19, Dr Anthony Fauci, Wednesday told the virtual graduation ceremony of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar's (WCM-Q) Class of 2021.
“Currently, we are at a critical juncture in the Covid-19 pandemic. Our pathway to ending the pandemic has been lit by the stunningly rapid development of highly effective Covid-19 vaccines now authorised for use," pointed out Dr Fauci, also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US.
As the keynote speaker at the ceremony, he congratulated the graduates for facing the pandemic of Covid-19 with courage, resiliency and adaptability.
“As we navigate year two of the global pandemic of Covid-19, I am keenly aware that celebrating this important milestone of your lives under the constraints of this pandemic is, at best, disappointing. However, we all must adapt to this extraordinary situation and unite to meet its challenges.
"When this pandemic began its sweep around the globe more than a year ago it quickly hobbled hospitals and imposed crushing levels of stress and strain on their medical staffs,” he recalled.
Dr Faucci who graduated from the Cornell University Medical College in 1966 acknowledged that his infectious disease training at NIH, prepared him well to fight the emergent viruses such as HIV, 2009 influenza, SARS-CoV-1, Ebola, Zika, and now SARS-CoV-2 and exhorted the students to treat such situations as unexpected opportunities
“As you move into the next stage of your medical careers, regardless of your medical specialty, now more than ever we will need your talent, your energy, your resolve, and your character to restore and preserve the health of our world,” he reminded the graduates. Page 12.
“Currently, we are at a critical juncture in the Covid-19 pandemic. Our pathway to ending the pandemic has been lit by the stunningly rapid development of highly effective Covid-19 vaccines now authorised for use," pointed out Dr Fauci, also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US.
As the keynote speaker at the ceremony, he congratulated the graduates for facing the pandemic of Covid-19 with courage, resiliency and adaptability.
“As we navigate year two of the global pandemic of Covid-19, I am keenly aware that celebrating this important milestone of your lives under the constraints of this pandemic is, at best, disappointing. However, we all must adapt to this extraordinary situation and unite to meet its challenges.
"When this pandemic began its sweep around the globe more than a year ago it quickly hobbled hospitals and imposed crushing levels of stress and strain on their medical staffs,” he recalled.
Dr Faucci who graduated from the Cornell University Medical College in 1966 acknowledged that his infectious disease training at NIH, prepared him well to fight the emergent viruses such as HIV, 2009 influenza, SARS-CoV-1, Ebola, Zika, and now SARS-CoV-2 and exhorted the students to treat such situations as unexpected opportunities
“As you move into the next stage of your medical careers, regardless of your medical specialty, now more than ever we will need your talent, your energy, your resolve, and your character to restore and preserve the health of our world,” he reminded the graduates. Page 12.