Covid-19: ‘Mass gatherings, virulent variants create perfect storm for virus to spread’ | India News
chief United Nations office for Disaster risk decrease Mami Mizutori says Pradeep Tagore Covax is making progress toward making 2 billion doses available by the end of 2021, which should be enough to protect high-risk and vulnerable individuals. Excerpts from the interview:D The World Bank It is estimated that 150 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty in 2021 due to Covid-19. How can India reduce the impact?First of all, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the people and government of India on the tragic loss of lives across the country. All major disasters affecting low- and middle-income countries result in economic losses that have a detrimental effect on their ability to eradicate poverty and meet other basic needs, including access to health services and education. In the case of Covid-19, we have seen how it has pushed millions of people around the world into extreme poverty and contributed to increased levels of hunger in many parts of the world where the informal economy that poor people rely on has been destroyed. For all Member States, poverty eradication cannot be achieved without disaster risk reduction and improved prevention because nothing undermines development like disasters.The US and some other countries have saved enough shots for their citizens. Should India have done the same?Much of the world looks to India for vaccine supplies, but the drug supply chain is so complex and specialized to such a degree that serving a population the size of India is always going to be a mammoth task. The number of people already vaccinated in India is high but it will take time to develop enough doses to reach more than a billion people.How successful has the UN KOVAX program been?The Covax facility portfolio, managed by Gavi, currently consists of eight vaccine-related contracts, including Serum Institute of India. Coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Pandemic Preparedness Innovation Alliance and the WHO, Covax is making steady progress towards making 2 billion doses available by the end of 2021, which should be enough to protect high-risk and vulnerable people as well as frontline healthcare workers.The second wave of Covid-19 has caused more deaths in India. Where did it go wrong?Covid-19 demonstrates the systemic nature of disaster risk, how a biological hazard can devastate all areas of life, from public health to all socio-economic aspects of our society. Unfortunately, many countries, including India, are learning the hard way that prevention requires more patience than previously thought and, in the case of biohazards, a long game plan. The WHO has warned that when there are mass gatherings, more infectious forms and vaccination coverage is still low, it could create a perfect storm for the virus to spread in any country. India has done a commendable job in technology and communications to ensure effective early warning of cyclones. The challenge now for governments is to effectively communicate the continued need for masks, social distancing and avoiding mass gatherings while simultaneously launching an effective immunization program.Your thoughts on ‘global response to future pandemics’ and vaccine delivery?If global preparedness for this pandemic had been matched with caution, the impact could have been greatly reduced. An adequate level of pandemic preparedness would cost billions instead of the trillions it costs now. Loss of life and economic devastation could have been significantly reduced if we had been adequately prepared from the moment biological hazards were included in the Sendai Framework in 2015. Given the transboundary nature of biological hazards it is clear that future pandemics require a global response plan. A patchwork response is not working for Covid-19 and it will not work against new emerging diseases and viruses in the future. It is unacceptable that developing countries have to wait so long for a Covid vaccine. This disparity and lack of mobilization to access affordable vaccines only fuel the spread of the virus, allow new variants to emerge and prolong the epidemic. None of us are safe until we are all safe.With Covid disruption, can countries like India meet the UN? Sustainable Development Goals Target?It is clear that the death toll and economic losses from Covid-19 mean that the Sendai Framework has suffered a major setback in its goals of reducing mortality, the number of people affected by disasters and economic losses. However, we are still making significant progress on other goals. Asia and the Pacific are not on track to achieve any of the SDGs.
