72nd and 73rd report: WHO TRS N°1030: 2020
WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization
Overview
The seventy-second meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization was held from 19 to 23 October 2020 by WebEx video conferencing due to the restrictions imposed during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Dr Simão began by noting that the Committee had met as recently as August 2020, primarily to address standardization activities related to COVID-19, and that much remains to be learnt about the pandemic. The WHO Solidarity Trial was continuing to facilitate the rapid and robust comparison of potential treatments. Recently published interim results indicated that the four small molecule treatments remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon had little or no benefit in terms of overall mortality or speed of recovery of hospitalized patients – to date only dexamethasone had proved to be effective against severe COVID-19.
The seventy-third meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization was held on 9 and 10 December 2020 by Zoom video conferencing due to the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Simão expressed her gratitude to everyone attending this short but important meeting, particularly given the current level of demands at national 3 Introduction level, including the ongoing authorization of COVID-19 vaccines. The challenges presented by the pandemic were broad and complex, with the measures being worked on ranging from social behavioural aspects to the development of diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics. Focusing on recent progress in COVID-19 vaccine development, Dr Simão expressed concern that the current tone of media reporting might induce a false sense of security and WHO messaging needed to be very clear. It currently appeared that there would likely be insufficient doses of vaccine in the coming year to immunize a large proportion of the global population. In the meantime, the continuing use of all available measures would remain crucial.