Health is a human right

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Although there was much talk of returning to “normal” in 2022, COVID-19 continued to afflict people around the world, wreaking havoc on health-care systems everywhere and exposing global inequities.

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The year began with global vaccine inequity. Wealthy countries had bought up most of the world’s supply of COVID-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, low- and middle-income countries lacked access to the vaccines, leaving most of their populations unprotected against the deadly airborne virus.

How did global vaccination efforts progress in 2022?

“They progressed, but there’s still a lot of inequity,” replied Dr. Peter Singer, special adviser to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization. “It’s important, if you want to save lives, to deal with that inequity early.”

Modelling shows that vaccine inequity “cost more than a million lives,” Singer said in a telephone interview while travelling from Geneva, Switzerland, to Vancouver. The Whig-Standard reached him at the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport as he waited for a connecting flight.

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“As we get into 2022-2023, the real question is: is that acceptable to people?” Singer said of the death toll. “How can we do better next time?”

Two billion doses

According to the World Health Organization website, the ACT-Accelerator partnership was launched by the WHO and partners to support “the fastest, most co-ordinated, and successful global effort in history to develop tools to fight a disease.” And Singer said that the ACT-Accelerator “delivered almost two billion doses of vaccine.”

However, “the real sustainable answer to vaccine inequity is local production, at least on the regional level,” the special adviser said of the need to manufacture vaccines in the developing world. “And that’s where some developments have been in terms of the mRNA technology transfer hub, which now has at least 16 centres working with them. And that’s really the way to ensure that we don’t face the same tragic loss next time.”

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Was there any good news in the developing world regarding vaccinations in 2022?

Singer responded by noting that 25 per cent of Africa’s total population has received initial COVID-19 immunizations. “So it is certainly much better than a year ago,” he conceded.

“But the number I focus on is the number of lives that have been lost just simply from inequity alone,” Singer continued. “Of course, we’re still focused on the vaccination of key groups: health workers, older people, people at high risk around the world.”

Did low- and middle-income countries have adequate access to COVID-19 therapeutics and testing in 2022?

“No,” Singer replied bluntly. “The inequities are the same. … Strengthening of local production is, of course, the answer.”

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Year of Omicron

Describing 2022 as “the year of Omicron,” Singer said that the COVID-19 variant “came in like a lion.” The good news is that the worst of Omicron seems to be over, he asserted.

“While every death is too many, weekly deaths are now about 10 per cent of what their peak was in February of 2022,” Singer said.

Singer cautiously offered a bit of tempered optimism. “Hopefully, we’re nearly at the end of the emergency phase of the pandemic. But with 500 Omicron variants circulating, the potential for emergence of a more infectious and deadly variant remains.”

Even though COVID-19 continues to pose serious global health challenges, the World Health Organization is looking ahead to possible future threats. “One thing is for sure: the world will face future outbreaks and epidemics,” Singer warned. “And, therefore, it’s encouraging that member states recently agreed to develop a draft pandemic accord in early 2023.”

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“This ‘zero draft’ of the pandemic accord, rooted in the WHO constitution, will be discussed by member states in February 2023,” reads a Dec. 7 WHO statement issued at the conclusion of three days of talks.

In simple terms, what is the pandemic accord all about?

“It is an agreement among all the governments in the world to learn the lessons of COVID, to focus on the principle of equity, and to put in place the appropriate measures; be they about the distribution of vaccines, drugs and diagnostics,” Singer explained. “It’s an agreement among governments of the world to essentially do better and focus on the principle of equity, and be more prepared.”

Knock-on effects

Did the number of cases of preventable childhood diseases, such as measles, increase due to missed immunizations in 2022?

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“Yeah, the knock-on effects have been very, very significant,” Singer answered. “We had a record high of nearly 40 million children missed a measles vaccine dose, making measles an imminent threat in every region of the world.” Moreover, other routine childhood immunizations were also disrupted as were basic medical services.

Looking forward to 2023, Singer said the world needs to act like “a winning sports team,” playing strong defence against threats such as pandemics, as well as the health consequences of climate change and conflict. “But we also have to play a strong offence by redoubling efforts to promote health, provide health services. Immunization is a good example of one of those areas that needs to be really doubled down on it.”

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Citing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Singer said the pandemic and other challenges have impeded progress on the attainment of the health-related benchmarks by 2030. “The world is going at less than one-quarter of the pace to reach those 2030 targets. … We have to speed up four times overall to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. And that’s what I mean by a strong offence.”

Misinformation and disinformation

During the pandemic, we have witnessed the dissemination vaccine misinformation and disinformation. Is there anything you would like to say to Canadians about the importance of vaccines?

“Vaccines save lives,” Singer replied emphatically. “At the heart of vaccine misinformation is actually not only the issue of information, but also the issue of trust. Unfortunately, one of the casualties of the pandemic has been social cohesion and trust. There is a tear in our social fabric; there’s a crack in the foundation that the virus has caused,” he lamented.

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“Who would’ve ever thought a mask, for example, would be a political statement. This is what I mean. And in so far as these basic public health measures — be it masks, be it vaccines — are politicized, and it’s quite a dangerous situation,” he warned.

In addition, Singer stressed “the need for us all to better understand the dangers of that and really try to reach out to each other and listen to each other and hear each other. And begin to rebuild the trust and the social fabric of our society. Of course, accurate information is also super important. But the underlying issue really is trust. There is a need to rebuild trust amongst ourselves. And if we’re actually going to be accepting accurate information and not arguing with each other over various types of conspiracies.”

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Twenty million excess deaths

“With around 20 million excess deaths over the past almost three years, COVID has been the worst global health crisis in a century,” Singer declared. “Hopefully, we are approaching the end of the emergency phase, and we can look forward.”

The COVID-19 pandemic “showed the centrality of health, not only in international development but in economic prosperity, national security and our daily lives,” Singer said. Similarly, the current surge in influenza cases, especially among youth, is “putting hospitals under strain” and demonstrates “how important health, health systems, health promotion are,” he said.

Singer urged everyone to take sensible precautions, such as “wearing masks, washing hands and staying home when sick, and getting vaccinated against influenza and COVID, to reduce the pressure on the health system.”

Conclusion

“It’s been a terrible three years — no question about it. Hopefully, the future, in a year or two, looks much better than the past. And so it’s a message of hope, realistic hope.”

However, Singer also stressed the importance of providing essential health services around the world.

“Health is a human right.”

Follow Geoffrey P. Johnston on Mastodon @GeoffyPJohnston@c.im.