With the rollout of vaccines underway and Johnson & Johnson’s single dosage vaccine expected to change the course of the pandemic, there is optimism that the world will return to what it was pre-COVID.

Not so fast.

Last week, COVID infections across the world increased and there are variants from the UK and Brazil popping up, with little understanding of what impact they may have on humans. As of Tuesday (March 2), the World Health Organization (WHO) is reporting 113,989,973 confirmed cases and 2,531,542 deaths across the world.

Last year, with the pandemic taking hold across the world, it was thought that 2021 would spell the end of the virus with science again triumphing over pestilence.

However, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme Dr Michael Ryan is of the view that it is premature and unrealistic to think that COVID  will go away by the end of this year.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Dr Ryan said: “If we’re smart, we can finish with hospitalisations, the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic by the end of the year.

“If the vaccines begin to impact not only on death and not only on hospitalisation, but have a significant impact on transmission dynamics and transmission risk, then I believe we will accelerate toward controlling this pandemic. Right now, the virus is very much in control.”

There is still a long road to go and the task now is to reduce the rate of infections and to see to it that as many people as possible get vaccinated. There will still be a need to observe social distancing protocols, wear masks and take precautionary measures.

There is now a race to acquire the much-needed vaccines, with the wealthier countries of the world gaining better access than developing countries. The United Nations’ COVAX body has now begun distributing vaccines to Ghana and the Ivory Coast but this comes weeks after developed nations began vaccinating their people.

This has not gone unnoticed by the Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The way he sees it, it was regrettable that younger and healthier adults in some rich counties are being vaccinated before health workers in developing countries.

Chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley has called attention to the inequitable supply distribution of vaccines between wealthy and poorer countries.

On this matter, Prime Minister Rowley said: “ So far, all that we have received are 170,000 doses gifted to a couple of nations from the Government of India. Barbados and Dominica, who received those gifts, graciously shared them around to many of us. This was done by them even as others with millions of doses that they can’t use immediately are refusing to make way for others at the manufacturers’ shipping line.”

“The United States more than any other country can change what’s happening right now. Unfortunately, what has happened and is happening is…the larger more powerful countries with more influential politics and fatter wallets are literally dominating the supply and distribution of what vaccines are available,” he argued.

The WHO boss, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave this matter some context saying: “Countries are not in a race with each other. This is a common race against the virus. We are not asking countries to put their own people at risk. We are asking all countries to be part of a global effort to suppress the virus everywhere.”

“Even as COVID-19 vaccines continue to roll out, we urge all governments and individuals to remember that vaccines alone will not keep you safe.”

What is now apparent is that coronavirus will be around for some time and that the full impact of vaccinations will not be known until 2022. There will be obstacles to contend with and divisions between the wealthier and poorer nations of this earth will become even wider in safeguarding people against this pernicious virus.

“There is a lot of desperation for new therapies. The first hurdle is that we don’t know what this disease really is,” said Dr Hoorman Poor, a pulmonologist at the Mount Sinai Health System in the United States.

Dr Lina Miyakawa, also a pulmonologist at Mount Sinai added: “Antibody testing is really interesting, unfortunately, I think we have a lot more questions than answers.”