Countering COVID-19’s Continuity
Additional contributor: Nhan Nguyen
Covid in 2021 has taken a dramatic shift from where it ends in 2020. As of June 2021, according to John Hopkins data, the number of Covid deaths(1,884,146) had surpassed the total numbers in 2020(1,880,815). While the pandemic has slowed down, governments have started to distribute vaccines to the public, and continuous studies and research are being carried to improve the current pandemic situation. As previous heavily impacted countries like the US, India, Brazil, have shown signs of recovery, South America has risen to become the new hardest Covid-hit continent with more than 40 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the New York Times. As we approach the end of the year, Covid again has taken a sharp turn for the worse when a new variant is discovered. On November 26th, the Covid variant Omicron was reported in multiple countries and so far, scientists are carrying out research about this new variant while governments encourage their people to take a booster vaccine. Compared to 2020, the 2021 Covid might have a greater death toll and a more advanced variant, but the endless effort of scientists and governments have drastically improved the situation and hopefully put an end to the pandemic - Nhan Nguyen
The COVID situation in 2021 can be summed up using the following keywords: Vaccine diplomacy, Delta and Omnicorn variants, and epi-macro modelling.
This year marked a significant change in our approach to managing the spread of the virus due to the tremendous increase in vaccine supply. Notable mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or the AstraZeneca’s vector vaccine arrived with approval from local governments and the international community the earliest, and have easily grasped hold of the devastating demand in the vaccine market. Companies such as Pfizer-BioNTeach negotiated directly with foreign governments, offered at low expenses alongside multiple supporting schemes such as transportation, distribution, Pfizer vaccines have quickly become accessible to citizens of the world. Figures do speak louder than words as Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna are expected to make $34 billion pre-tax profit this year, which means approximately $93.5 million per day.
Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna are expected to make $34 billion pre-tax profit this year
As 2021 reaches its conclusion, more players joined the market, mostly vaccines produced by the local government. At the start of the pandemic, most nations feared a sole-seller monopolistic market, as they sped up their own vaccine productions. However, “vaccine diplomacy” has become the if-not-the-most surprising turn of the whole COVID-19 situation. Nations saw vaccines as a tool to foster relationships and enhance international cooperation. Leaders make long visits across different continents in a turbulent and crazy year where the number of vaccines bought/sold/gifted/loaned has, in turn, dominated newspapers’ headlines. The ultimate line of reasoning after the vaccine story of 2021 is that 2022 will be filled with COVID-19 vaccines, with some countries finally seeing light at the end of a 2-year tunnel and some finding their economies in an even more sophisticated economic burden.
Compared to 2020, our response to the pandemic has shifted. We have gone from hardcore, strict lockdown mandates to a more open and easy state, where co-existing with COVID-19 is desirable. Nations have allowed normal economic activities to resume, including international trade and tourism. Another reason for this might be due to the lower mortality rate of new mutations, with the latest one Omnicorn to have only resembled similar traits to that of seasonal cold. More liberalised approaches have also created a path for “vaccine passports”, a novel twist for the transportation industry in the midst of the pandemic. Despite making travelling somewhat easier, such passports raise concerns about the safety of individual nations which makes these passports controversial for developing nations as immigrated-covid cases could be detrimental to social welfare and the economy.
Looking forward to 2022, COVID-19 will definitely be around, but not anywhere near a vital issue like it has been during the past 2 years. What to look for is how quickly will democracies such as the US or Western Europe get their people to vaccinate; how quickly the world economies will revive, as in nations to regain their usual growth in GDP and other development indicators? All of these should be in line as the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus firmly states that “2022 must be the end of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
The ingredients (vaccines) and the spells (economic management mandates) have become readily available for us witches (nations) to create the correct cure and end the continuity of this ridicule.