The World Health Organization announced on Monday that it has invented a new system to name COVID-19 variants in order “to avoid stigmatizing nations where they where first spotted”:
What's in a name? WHO revising naming system for COVID variants to avoid stigmatizing nations where they were first spotted https://t.co/XLCr0zFD7w
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 1, 2021
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
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