Don’t be blinded by the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel
Tom Frieden
President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. Former CDC director and NYC Health Commissioner. Focused on saving lives.
Even as the United States moves closer to resuming life as usual, the end of the pandemic is far away for the rest of the world. Vaccines won’t crush the global curve in the short term, but protective measures work, as I discuss in a new op-ed for CNN. Globally, effective action can save more than a million lives in the coming year.
India’s explosive outbreak of Covid is a reminder that most of the world still faces ongoing and increasing risks of the pandemic, driven by variants that are more contagious and likely also deadlier. While some Americans are getting ready to go to the movies, body bags are stacking up in other parts of the world where vaccines aren’t available.
Vaccines won’t do much to stop uncontrolled spread in the short term. We don’t have enough of them, our vaccine infrastructure can’t be relied on to produce enough vaccines for the world, vaccines take months to roll out, and vaccine-induced immunity takes weeks to months to develop. So, in the short term, places such as India and Brazil can save the most lives by improving masking and distancing, and reducing travel.
mRNA vaccines are our insurance policy against variants, the possible need for boosters, and production delays with other vaccines, but current capacity is nowhere close to where we need it to be. Immunity from vaccines is at best months or years away.
We need to transfer vaccine technology and ramp up manufacturing now.
Right now, these are six key steps we must take to deal with outbreaks:
- Protect health care and health care workers
- Mask up
- Maintain distancing to avoid superspreading
- Continue essential services, including school
- Vaccinate, especially health care workers and older people
- Learn and adapt
The situation in India shows the urgent need to keep variants at bay through swift and strategic action. Global cooperation is essential if we are to win our war against Covid. It’s possible to beat this virus.