COVID-19 pandemic: Is the end nearer?
By Hakim Djaballah
Sir Winston Churchill once said, “The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes,” while the late Nelson Mandela added, “When the water starts boiling, it is foolish to turn off the heat.” Timeless, remarkable and converging quotes on how idiocracy tends to prevail, if you will, in our modern times when challenged by a crisis such as the one we are living today.
There is an urgent need to pause, review and evaluate the ongoing policies in view of where we find ourselves today; that said, have these policies brought us closer to end this health crisis and return to a new normal way of life? The answer is complicated, but no.
Lockdowns and special restrictions deployed in many countries may have had an impact on the crisis before May 2020 for the sole purpose of virus containment; after that, they made no sense from my point of view as the virus managed to propagate in many countries, and clearly caused harm to public health, including and not limited to mental health issues, and the extent of which, can only really be known in the next few years.
Mass screening efforts deployed and continue to be performed in many countries, although without impact on the crisis itself with the exception, perhaps, of the ongoing Chinese “zero” COVID policy, which has turned out to be the perfect tool of fear, propaganda, and population control. On the other hand, masks continue to be the best protection option against virus exposure; however, their use has been overextended due to political decisions.
The same is equally valid for the impact that ongoing vaccination campaigns and mandates have had on the virus and the pandemic. Recently, the director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) admitted that her combined knowledge on vaccine safety and efficacy comes from listening to CNN. A very disappointing and dangerous admission by Dr. Wallensky, which in turn questions both the Biden administration's narrative on vaccines and the consensus leading to the decision to use vaccines as the only tool to fight the virus.
It is unprecedented to deploy vaccines during an active pandemic and definitely, not at this global scale. Vaccines are by no means miracle treatments as they are meant for prevention only; and as it happens, they are having the worst outcome ever expected. The more we vaccinate and boost people, the more infections are recorded. No data is available about the long-term effects of repeat vaccinations. Vaccines seem to have run their course, except perhaps for their economic and political gains, driven by blatant political and/or economic conflicts of interest.
The father of medicine Hippocrates wrote “As to diseases, make a habit of two things ― to help, or at least to do no harm.” This guiding principle for the ethical practices of medicine and pharmacology is valid today as it was back then; and despite its inadequacies, it remains a strong reminder that every medical and pharmacological decision carries the potential to harm someone. Dr. Wallensky's admissions could easily be construed as a deliberate act to harm the masses; CNN is not a health regulatory agency with authority on vaccine safety and efficacy.
Should we continue to vaccinate everyone? No we should not. With only 95 out of 196 countries having reached at least 50 percent coverage, the focus must be on bringing the rest to similar coverage levels. However, the ongoing war in Ukraine will not only hinder the effort, but could potentially be the source of a new deadlier variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus. A new variant could destroy the stability offered by the Omicron variant, providing an opportunity to help vaccinating the world with a multivalent vaccine based on a naturally attenuated virus.
What we have been enduring is the same old cycle of zoonosis as our ancestors have been experiencing for over millions of years before us. With advances in health technology and medicine, a global organization with a clear global health response mandate, and collaborative networks of international doctors and scientists, the expectation would have been that the virus would be contained on Chinese soil, but it was let out to infect the world.
The difference is that the management of this pandemic has been largely approached with no scientific consensus, very little caution, and too much optimism for restrictions and vaccines to end it. Many countries followed without understanding the risks involved in these unproven strategies. This foolish approach has put the lives and livelihoods of billions at risk, and has caused a human tragedy with over 6 million innocent lives lost.
In a much unexpected twist, that science could never have predicted or explain, Omicron entered the scene, propagated at the speed of light, infecting millions in its path, and transitioned this pandemic into endemicity, while stabilizing the crisis in several countries. Omicron effectively ended the pandemic and started a COVID-19 endemic phase, rendering all current policies no longer relevant to the fight and must be updated to focus on disease management.
In closing, we are indeed nearing the end of this health crisis with a cautionary note that the Omicron-induced stability must be sustained for a little bit longer, and without the appearance of a new variant which can be as deadly as Delta or worse. Let's not forget that war-torn regions and human displacement tend to allow pathogens to thrive, evolve, and develop into unmanageable health threats.
Dr. Hakim Djaballah, former CEO of Institut Pasteur Korea, is an Algerian-born American molecular pharmacologist and technologist with expertise in virology and oncology. He sits on several advisory boards. He is the co-founder, president and CEO of Keren Therapeutics, a startup company dedicated to the science of aging. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.