Covid 19 - The DANGER of a Two Speed Response

 

Covid-19 – The DANGER  of  a Two Speed Response

 

A Global Battlefield

The human civilization is just in the middle of a battle now, the battle

against a tiny virus  called  Coronavirus ;  To survive, our civilization has

to  fight unitedly  to win over this enemy  where  the battlefield remains

to be the  whole  area of our planet ; The UN Secretary General Mr. Antonio

Guterres  on  24^th  May,  2021, has urged the countries to take bold  decisions

now to both end the crisis and  build a safe & healthy future for all ; 

 

The Grim Picture

As per a recent report of the WHO Chief,  Mr. T.A. Ghebreyesus, there have

been more Covid-19  cases  so far this year than in the whole of  the previous

year (2020),  “On current trends” said he, “ the number of deaths will overtake

last year’s total within the next three weeks” ;  As against this scenario, most

of the  vaccine doses or 75 % ,  have been  administered  only in just  10

countries ;  He has described this  ongoing vaccine crisis  as  “a scandalous

inequity that is perpetuating the pandemic” ;

 

The  Danger of  a  Two Speed  Response

As Mr. T.A. Ghebreyesus has observed,   “a small group of countries that  make  

&  buy the majority of the world’s vaccines,  control the fate of the rest of the

world” ;    Exactly at this point the danger of  two speed response originates ; 

As observed &  opined by Mr. Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General,

unless  we act right now, we  have  to  face a sad situation  in future when  

the  rich countries  will be able to vaccinate the  majority of their people &

open their economies, while the virus  will continue to cause  deep suffering

by circling  & mutating in the poorest countries ;  Again, further spikes  & surges

 could claim hundreds of thousands of lives & slow the global economic 

recovery also ;

In simple words, where the rich countries will be able to eradicate Covid-19

from their  countries, the   vast majority of the people of the poor countries

will continue to suffer from  the successive, newly mutated,  dangerous  &

more  lethal  variants of Covid-19 ;  

 

What Can be Done   ?

As observed by the UN Secretary general,  Covid19  cannot be seen in

Isolation  from the fundamental problems with our health systems : 

Inequality,  Underfunding,  Complacency   &  Neglect ;

As  observed  by  the UN, to have a solution to this alarming  Covid-19

situation  the following  tasks  have to be  executed (Shortened) :

 

The world leaders must  urgently step up  with a global plan for

 equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines ;  A fully funded  established

 mechanism is to  be developed  for  equitable vaccine distribution ;

 

To establish a task force which will be able to deal with the various

pharmaceuticals companies & other key stakeholders ;  The target

will be at least to double the  vaccine production capacity through

voluntary  licenses and technology transfers ;

 

Every country has to increase surveillance & testing, protect health

workers and  fight against misinformation ; The countries can also

implement national  vaccine  programmes  & donate excess vaccine

to the global solidarity initiative, COVAX (a global body

to ensure a fair & equitable access to the vaccines by all the countries) ;

 

To prepare for the next pandemic,  the recommendations made  

by the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness  are to be

supported ; He told that high level political commitment is needed 

to transform the existing system and that the WHO must be kept  at the 

center  of the  global preparedness ; [Source : UN Reports]