WHO invents new naming system for COVID-19 variants to ‘avoid stigmatizing nations’

Now all variants will be based on the Greek alphabet “making them simple, easy to say and remember”:

Today WHO has announced a new naming system for key #COVID19 variants. The labels are based on the Greek alphabet (i.e. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc), making them simple, easy to say and remember.

👉 https://t.co/aYCZfspZyb pic.twitter.com/Gxt14fwVqF

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 31, 2021

The scientific names will still be used in research:

The labels do not replace existing scientific names, which convey important scientific information & will continue to be used in research. The naming system aims to prevent calling #COVID19 variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing & discriminatory. pic.twitter.com/MwWGGMXPjn

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 31, 2021

Of note, the vaccines are working to contain the variants, no matter what they’re called:

Updating this simplified table for the key properties of the major variants with their new @WHO Greek letter names via @mvankerkhove
There is 1 common feature for all: Vaccines Work pic.twitter.com/uGojKKmzoB

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 31, 2021

***