A Vaccine Breakthrough

For decades now – after years of medical experimentation and scientific research – an effective

vaccine for general public cure for HIV and dengue has eluded scientists. Even as millions of people die every year due to such life-threatening diseases, the world is still waiting for a vaccine as a ‘panacea’.

Today, we feel the emergency more as coronavirus pandemic has brought normal life to a virtual standstill. It’s time we find a life-saver vaccine for public health usage, disease control and combating a health crisis like COVID-19. “A safe and effective vaccine may be the only tool that can return the world to a sense of ‘normalcy,’ saving millions of lives and countless trillions of dollars,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a video conference with Africa UN members.

Decade of Vaccines: IN DECEMBER 2010, World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had announced a collaboration to increase coordination across the international vaccine community and create a Global Vaccine Action Plan.

This time around, world leaders, countries, governments, international organisations, scientists, research institutes, foundations, companies, healthcare professionals, philanthropic bodies and donors are coming together for global cooperation, financial support to find a vaccine and ensure all people can access “life-saving tools” for COVID-19. “This virus will be with us for a long time, and we must come together to develop and share the tools to defeat it. The potential for continued waves of infection of COVID-19 across the globe demands that every single person on the planet be protected from this disease,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the media briefing on COVID-19.

Countries like Israel, Italy, the US, UK, China, claim to have already found a vaccine to treat COVID-19. Reportedly over 100 vaccines are currently under pre-clinical trials and a couple of those have entered human trial stage. “Recent advances in science are enabling the world to move at incredible speed to develop these tools. But the true measure of success  will not only be how fast we can develop safe and effective tools – it will be how equally we can distribute them,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

With hopes of a lasting cure, we need to get the vaccine to every nook and corner of the world with its equal access, distribution and protection of people.

- - Singh Rakesh Ranjan, Freelance Journalist