Virus 2021

The New Year is approaching with a breath of hope in overcoming the Pandemic worldwide and with many illusions of ending the disastrous 2020. However, without wishing to be ominous, we must take into consideration some aspects that will be essential and must be borne in mind for the coming year.

Firstly, we must point out that the vaccine (whatever it is) is not the end but the beginning of the eradication of COVID-19, in other words, we began vaccination in 2021 but it is estimated that it will not be until December that we will achieve so-called (I don't like) herd immunity. This means that for 12 months we will be obliged to maintain the same measures of safety, distance, hygiene, masks and reduction of our social life.

Secondly, the vaccination process (in order to be effective) must be walking symmetrically around the world. It would not be enough for us to be 100% vaccinated in the West if Africa or Latin America do not have the same percentages. The virus would continue to move around, mutating the strains, causing new and increased infections, and it would be like a continuous spiral that would be difficult to stop.

Finally, it is yet to be determined whether the effects of the vaccines will last a year and whether we will therefore have to re-vaccinate in 2022. This implies accurate research by pharmaceuticals and extreme vigilance for the new British strain and others that will emerge over time.

There is a shared desire in the world population to win the battle against this killer, but we must not neglect basic protection measures because the period until full immunisation is still too long. 

It is up to Western governments to make a complementary effort of solidarity, to ensure that vaccines will reach all countries of the world with the necessary guarantees to be effective. It is time to demand the liberation of patents by pharmaceutical companies, because here it is not a question of making money but of freeing humanity from a fatal pandemic. It is a matter of eliminating at the root any hint of corruption that may arise in the distribution and inoculation of the vaccine. We need to apply additional measures to continue with the key to global transmission, to move less, to travel less, to go out less, all of this to make us cry less.

With 90 million reported infections (estimated to be over 100 million) and almost 2 million reported deaths (estimated to be over 2.5 million), we cannot afford to enter a third, fourth or fifth wave of infections that would be devastating in the first half of 2021. That is why we must not lower our guard and we must demand that our leaders make saving lives their first objective, which is not to be politically motivated. 

In every corner of the planet we must be attentive to their ways of assuming responsibility and not allow them to dare to play with our lives.

Francisco Pineda Zamorano. Expert in International Relations and Cooperatio