By Hamilton Nwosa( Head, The New Diplomat Business and data tracking desk)
Two-time former Nigeria’s Finance Minister and erstwhile managing director of the World Bank, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has warned that no one will be safe globally until the whole world is safe. According to Okonjo-Iweala who is chair of the Board of Gavi, the global Vaccine Alliance, and WHO Special Envoy on the Global Alliance to fight COVID-19, finding a vaccine is only the first step in the fight to combat the deadly virus.
In an article she wrote for Foreign Affairs, a United States based magazine founded in 1922, focusing on foreign policy subject matters, the former Coordinating Minister for the Nigerian Economy and Minister of Finance during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, warned that “ never before have so many lives, livelihoods, and economies depended so much on a single health intervention” stressing that “Governments, pharmaceutical companies, and multilateral organizations must work together to develop, produce, and deliver the vaccine”.
She added: “ Producing and distributing billions of doses of a new vaccine would be challenging at the best of times. Doing so during a pandemic will require an unprecedented global effort. Doing so during a pandemic will require an unprecedented global effort. ..Just consider the recent global shortages of personal protective equipment and test kits. A coordinated international effort is needed to avoid similar vaccine shortages and to prevent large numbers of people from going unvaccinated. Unfortunately, equitable vaccine distribution has frequently been a problem in the past. Increased demand for the HPV vaccine in developed countries, for example, has recently impeded access for vulnerable adolescent girls in developing countries. And during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, a small number of countries placed large advance orders for the vaccine before it became available, effectively buying up most of the global supply and leaving little for the rest of the world.”
In her article entitled “ Finding a Vaccine Is Only the First Step: No One Will Be Safe Until the Whole World Is Safe”, Okonjo-Iweala canvassed for what she called a radical new approach. According to her this informed the reason why global efforts are on-going to combat the pandemic using radical approaches including some strategies already launched by Gavi.
She explained; “Coronavirus-related disruptions to immunization have already caused at least 13.5 million people in Gavi-supported countries to go unvaccinated. It is crucial that low- and middle-income countries resume vaccination campaigns as soon as possible and that they keep routine immunization programs going throughout the pandemic. The supply chains, cold chain equipment, trained health-care workers, data systems, and disease-surveillance efforts that make up these existing programs will ultimately form the backbone of the delivery network that brings COVID-19 vaccines to the people who need them.
“To this end, Gavi is working with countries to bolster their health systems and keep routine immunization running. It has made a first tranche of $200 million available to protect health-care workers with personal protective equipment, perform vital surveillance and training, and fund diagnostic tests. But this sum is marginal compared to the billions of dollars that will be needed to develop and deliver a vaccine or vaccines that can end the pandemic. These are vaccines for all of humanity. That means they not only need to be made available to everyone but ideally, they also need to be tested and manufactured around the world”.
“A viable vaccine is still unlikely to be licensed for at least another 12 months. But some of the focus does now need to shift from the race to develop a vaccine to preparing for its arrival (including trying to find therapeutics until the vaccine is ready). In recent years, multilateralism and globalism have come under attack. The pandemic crisis is an opportunity to push societies to adapt and evolve from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism, mobilizing all contributors around a common goal: one world, protected. Because no one will be safe until everyone is safe”, she added.
It would recalled that the outbreak of the pandemic has brought severe untold challenges, deaths, stress and difficulties across the world. This has led to economic disruptions, recession and shocks in many economies across various countries around the world.
