Science, Solutions, and Solidarity Required to End Pandemic- Ghebreyesus

There is palpable fear and apprehension globally as families are devastated by the death of family members caused by the covid19 pandemic that has plagued the world from 2019 to date notwithstanding efforts by the World Health Organization, WHO,  scientists and governments across continents to combat the pains and loses unleashed by the virus.

Now, it is said all human beings on planet earth have been categorized not along gender lines any more but a new categorization now exist to classify all homo sapiens as either Vaccinated, Partially vaccinated and or non-Vaccinated.

With threats by governments to ban citizens who are not vaccinated from public places, manipulations and forgeries of vaccination certificates have become concerns in many countries of the world even as Director General of the WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, has expressed hope that COVID-19 pandemic will end in 2022.

Available statistics show that  1.8 million deaths were recorded in 2020 and 3.5 million in 2021. These figure represent reported and recorded cases only.

There is no doubt that there are hundreds of thousands of deaths from the virus in remote places which are not captured as many of the developing countries of the world lack medical facilities to cater for patients while their inability to procure Vaccines for their citizens are among issues raisings fears on possible eradication of the Virus.

Ghebreyesus has warned that boosters in rich countries could cause low-income countries to again fall short and called on leaders of wealthy countries and manufacturers to work together to reach the 70 per cent goal by July.

According to the WHO chief, “This is the time to rise above short-term nationalism and protect populations and economies against future variants by ending global vaccine inequity as the July 2022 date ticks already.

“We have 185 days to the finish line of achieving 70 per cent by the start of July 2022. And the clock starts now,” Ghebreyesus cautioned.

The WHO helmsman express worry that selfish tendencies by government could greatly affect global effort in tackling the Virus and reducing the disease.

He says “Populism, narrow nationalism and hoarding of health tools, including masks, therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines, by a small number of countries undermined equity, and created the ideal conditions for the emergence of new variants just as misinformation and disinformation, have also been “a constant distraction, undermining science and trust in lifesaving health tools”.

Reported cases of persons dying after the Vaccines have not helped matters even as complications suffered by those who got vaccinated prevail. The shadow of doubts grows thicker by the day as number of deaths increase and faith in efficacy of vaccines wane.

The WHO insists that the un-vaccinated are many times more at risk of dying from any variant of the Virus.

As the pandemic drags on, new variants could become fully resistant to current vaccines or past infection, necessitating vaccine adaptations.

Available Vaccines Approved by WHO

Pfizer/BioNTech: Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA

Oxford/AstraZeneca: Vaxzevria and Covishield

Johnson & Johnson: Ad26.COV2.S

Moderna: Spikevax

Sinopharm: BBIBP-CorV

Sinovac: CoronaVac

Bharat Biotech: Covaxin

Novavax: NVX-CoV2373 and Covovax

Effectiveness/after effect of these Vaccines vary from citizen to citizen just as their availability differ in countries. Citizens get the Vaccine their governments approve for use in their respective countries.

The call for collaboration in the fight against the Covid19 Pandemic by the WHO and other world bodies must be heeded to bring an end to the devastation caused by the variants of the virus.

understandably, big money is involved in the treatment of the virus as well as the production/distribution of vaccines. With the money comes politics and conspiracy theories for and against. Merchants are thus at work pushing their interests. Under this “sizzling” commercial/political exchanges/settings, could this Pandemic be effectively managed and brought to and end?

Are the Big Pharmas In Business?

Maaza Seyoum of the African Alliance and People’s Vaccine Alliance Africa recently said: “It is obscene that just a few companies are making millions of dollars in profit every single hour, while just two percent of people in low-income countries have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna have used their monopolies to prioritize the most profitable contracts with the richest governments, leaving low income countries out in the cold.”

The Alliance estimates that Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna will make pre-tax profits of $34 billion this year between them, which works out as over a thousand dollars a second, $65,000 a minute or $93.5 million a day. The monopolies these companies hold have produced five new billionaires during the pandemic, with a combined net wealth of $35.1 billion.

With these figures, is it possible to end this pandemic?

Could the Virus be eradicated soon?

These are questions bothering citizens of the world.