Forbes
Gayle E. Smith
CEO of the ONE Campaign
Jun 13, 2022,
The Democratic Republic of Congo has received doses of Covid-19 vaccines through the UN-led COVAX …
One page summary by
Joaquim Cardoso MSc.
Health Foundation (Fundação da Saúde)
Pandemics Response Unit
July 8, 2022
The author has spent years chasing viruses. She says chasing because that’s how it works. To defeat a viral threat, we must move faster than it does.
Covid is different. Rather than outpacing the virus, we seem to have pulled up short of the finish line and declared victory.
The masks have come off, the restrictions have eased, systematic testing and reporting regimes are increasingly a thing of the past, and most of the world has turned its attention to the next thing.
But viruses are different for two reasons.
- First, they’re invisible, a characteristic that serves them well.
- And second, viruses replicate at alarming speed and when obstacles arise, they mutate.
We may be tired of Covid, but it keeps going.
- We can’t just declare that this pandemic is over, but we can end it.
- The tragic irony is that with good science, data, vaccines and now treatments, we’ve got what we need to get the job done. What we need is the will to act.
That’s why we at the ONE Campaign are calling for a five-point plan to end the pandemic.
- It will cost real money but will also prove a lot cheaper than pretending that a pandemic that could cost the world nearly $14 trillion, according to the International Monetary Fund, is no longer a threat.
- More than money, the effort will require political capital that is in short supply in many countries divided over a pandemic that is killing millions of people.
To outpace the continued spread of the virus, we should:
- 1.Meet the global demand for vaccines
- 2.Solve the access to medicines problem
- 3.Then there’s the matter of economic recovery
- 4.Finally, we need to prepare for the next viral threat as if it could be another global pandemic.
This pandemic has killed millions, upended the lives of millions more, and triggered the first increase in extreme poverty in 25 years.
But more stunning is the fact that we had, and still have, the tools, means and knowledge to beat the virus.
Leaders across the globe must recognize that giving in to exhaustion before the race is over means letting the virus win.
ORIGINAL PUBLICATION (full version)
I’ve spent years chasing viruses. I say chasing because that’s how it works. To defeat a viral threat, we must move faster than it does.
H1N1 thankfully died out of its own accord.
HIV is still a threat, but 20 years of concerted global effort has meant that we’ve now got the upper hand.
And even though we will continue to see Ebola outbreaks, the world won when it defeated an unprecedented epidemic in West Africa six years ago.
Covid is different. Rather than outpacing the virus, we seem to have pulled up short of the finish line and declared victory.
The masks have come off, the restrictions have eased, systematic testing and reporting regimes are increasingly a thing of the past, and most of the world has turned its attention to the next thing.
You might be able to do that with a more conventional security threat — wars end, conflicts can be settled, and enemies defeated.
But viruses are different for two reasons.
First, they’re invisible, a characteristic that serves them well.
And second, viruses replicate at alarming speed and when obstacles arise, they mutate.
We may be tired of Covid, but it keeps going.
Consider a few facts about a virus that epidemiologists have described as “impressive,” “capable” and “extremely efficient.”
Covid has killed almost 20 million people worldwide.
Over 14 million new cases were documented over the last month.
According to Our World in Data, at the start of May, 13,000 patients were hospitalized with Covid in the U.S.; by the end of the month, that number had risen to 24,000.
Omicron is morphing into new subvariants that appear to have greater resistance to antibodies than their predecessors.
Meanwhile, recent studies suggest that vaccines only marginally decrease the risk of long Covid and that as many as one in five cases may evolve into long Covid.
We can’t just declare that this pandemic is over, but we can end it.
The tragic irony is that with good science, data, vaccines and now treatments, we’ve got what we need to get the job done. What we need is the will to act.
That’s why we at the ONE Campaign are calling for a five-point plan to end the pandemic.
It will cost real money but will also prove a lot cheaper than pretending that a pandemic that could cost the world nearly $14 trillion, according to the International Monetary Fund, is no longer a threat.
That’s why we at the ONE Campaign are calling for a five-point plan to end the pandemic.
It will cost real money but will also prove a lot cheaper than pretending that a pandemic that could cost the world nearly $14 trillion, according to the International Monetary Fund, is no longer a threat.
More than money, the effort will require political capital that is in short supply in many countries divided over a pandemic that is killing millions of people.
To outpace the continued spread of the virus, we should:
- 1.Meet the global demand for vaccines
- 2.Solve the access to medicines problem
- 3.Then there’s the matter of economic recovery
- 4.Finally, we need to prepare for the next viral threat as if it could be another global pandemic.
1.Meet the global demand for vaccines.
The World Health Organization set an initial target of 70% vaccination coverage in all countries — a target we’re far from reaching.
Even if that global target is wishful thinking, we at least need to meet countries’ individual targets, ensure that people who want vaccines can get them and prioritize those most vulnerable to the virus.
For the United States, that also means coughing up the funding needed to deliver vaccines already procured by the government to the people around the world who need them.
Right now, a request for $5 billion to get shots in arms in some of the world’s poorest and under-vaccinated countries is waiting for Congress to act.
If the plan is to “live with the virus,” the world needs the tool to make that work.
Most wealthy countries have those tools; most poor countries do not. We need to ensure that testing, diagnostics, and treatments are widely available everywhere.
2.Solve the access to medicines problem.
We’re lucky that researchers and scientists developed effective vaccines.
But we would be foolish to think that by vaccinating only parts of the world we outpace the virus.
Wealthy countries have achieved over 70% vaccination coverage; the world’s poorest countries are struggling to top 14%.
We need to right that imbalance by sharing more vaccines and the resources to deliver them.
And we need new rules for the future that can guarantee medical countermeasures are available and affordable globally in the event of a future pandemic.
3.Then there’s the matter of economic recovery.
There’s a lot in the news about the recovery, but it’s not global.
In the face of the economic crisis that unfolded in parallel to the pandemic, the world’s wealthiest countries have been able to fall back on stimulus packages worth trillions of dollars; poor countries have gone into debt.
Wisely, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in February 2021 backed a new issuance of Special Drawing Rights, international reserve assets maintained by the International Monetary Fund, and called for wealthy countries to share their allocations with poor countries.
The international community aligned behind the plan, but those shared assets have yet to be delivered.
4.Finally, we need to prepare for the next viral threat as if it could be another global pandemic.
The world’s got a poor track record on this front. In the wake of the Ebola epidemic there was enthusiasm for funding prevention and preparedness, but within a couple of years as the urgency faded that enthusiasm waned with it.
We need to make investments for the future — in capacity building, research, surveillance, and response mechanisms — now.
We need to make investments for the future — in capacity building, research, surveillance, and response mechanisms — now.
This pandemic has killed millions, upended the lives of millions more, and triggered the first increase in extreme poverty in 25 years.
But more stunning is the fact that we had, and still have, the tools, means and knowledge to beat the virus. Leaders across the globe must recognize that giving in to exhaustion before the race is over means letting the virus win.
Originally published at https://www.forbes.com.
