COVID-19 is a bigger threat than war. So why isn’t it funded the same? – Open Democracy

There are also many countries presumed to be on top of the pandemic that are now facing new flare-ups. China is a case in point, with the recent outbreak of the Delta strain in Guangzhou, a city of more than 18 million and capital of the southern Guangdong province.

Partly because of previous success in pandemic control, China has not been at the forefront of vaccination, but the sheer speed of its reaction in Guangzhou was astonishing, with nearly all the citizens tested within three days across the entire city, followed by the immediate and near-total lockdown of affected neighbourhoods.

And its not just China much of Asia has experienced reversals. Thailand, Taiwan and Australia were all considered to be success stories but have had to react to flare-ups, while hospitals in Myanmar are reported to be in a state of collapse. These examples lay bare the severe danger of allowing the virus to re-emerge in a more potent form (Delta) when vaccination levels are still low.

The core problem is that there is a persistent global viral pool, with the virus circulating in many different social, economic and ecological environments, giving myriad opportunities for mutation. The great majority of these variants are less dangerous than the norm but in the space of less than a year there have already been four of concern, Alpha through to Delta. The most recent, Delta, has proved to be the most worrying and easily spread given that it is more than 50% more transmissible and has some degree of resistance to vaccines.

Experienced epidemiologists are concerned about this rate of variant evolution because it is common sense that variants of concern will arise, and they may be more infectious, vaccine-resistant, or a combination of both, but this is not being taken into account in global strategy. Unless sustained global action is taken, then judging by present trends, we could be heading from a disaster into an utter catastrophe.

To avoid even more deaths on a large scale, global vaccination is urgently needed by the end of this year, and not the end of next year as planned. This must be combined with improved test and trace systems right across the world, far more effective border controls and improvements in countries health services wherever required. Of course, the logistics of such operations are gigantic with 15 billion doses of vaccine needed as are the costs.

Estimates for vaccine production and delivery vary but figures of $100bn worldwide are likely not far off the mark. And of course there are the extra costs of emergency aid to improve many countries health facilities, as well as yearly boosters and modified vaccines for new variants.

To be realistic, costs could easily run to $200bn over the first few months and $100bn a year in the years to come. Those figures sound out of this world, so its worth bringing in two bits of perspective here.

The first is that during the initial phase of the pandemic from April to July last year, the worlds 2,158 billionaires increased their collective wealth by more than $2.5trn, ten times what is required for global vaccination, and the 2021 edition of The Sunday Times Rich list showed that the pandemic spawned more billionaires in Britain than ever.

The second is that $200bn over 12 months, even if that is a ballpark figure, is still only 10% of global annual spending on military defence, to seemingly protect nations security. COVID-19 has killed about ten million people in a year and a half. If this virus is not a security threat of epic proportions, then what is?

If rapid action isnt taken soon, more lethal variants will arise and the ultimate death toll could surpass 30 million, causing long-term consequences for human health and the socio-economic wellbeing of many countries worldwide.

This is an opportunity for leaders to rethink what security actually means and learn the value of cooperation with other nations. If we can leave behind the inward-looking mentality that has caused the unravelling of Britains fight against COVID-19, and work together as a global community to really get on top of the pandemic, then we have some hope of responding to the even greater challenge of climate breakdown.

Correction, 19 June 2021: When this article was first published, it misstated the number of doses needed for global vaccination. This has now been corrected

Continue reading here:

COVID-19 is a bigger threat than war. So why isn't it funded the same? - Open Democracy