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| Bardai 2018: Launch of National Polio Vaccination day |
At the end of the last post I encouraged you to sign a BMS petition which expresses solidarity with those countries who are proposing a TRIPS (patent) waiver. This would enable production of COVID vaccine in sufficient quantity so that it can be rapidly and equitably available throughout the world. BMS, through the Peoples Vaccine Alliance, are partnering with many organisations ,one of whom has produced a 5 minute video that explains the gravity of the situation and offers a solution, Manifesto for Life.
The problem over commercial medicines may seem to be enormous: changing international treaties to allow patent free drugs may seem a very difficult thing to do. But actually it is not necessary, because it has already been done. The TRIPS waiver mechanism was negotiated at the 2001 WTO talks in Doha as a response to the AIDS epidemic sweeping southern Africa and elsewhere. It paved the way for widespread distribution of low cost HIV treatment. Previously the annual cost of branded triple therapy of $10,000 per year made it impossible for all but the citizens of the richest nations to be treated. Suddenly, with a generic equivalent made in India, the price fell to $350 per year. This has saved many millions of lives in middle and lower income countries. By 2018 the price was as low as $75 a year, that is 15p (20 cents US) a day; as a consequence effective drugs to treat HIV are supplied by the Ministry of Health to all hospitals in Chad, including Bardai, for free distribution.
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the World Health Organisation, recently said 'the gap between the number of vaccines administered in rich countries and COVAX (supplying low income countries) is growing every single day and becoming more grotesque every day' He proposes using the same already established mechanism of the TRIPS waiver to address this situation,saying, ' These provisions are there for use in emergencies......if now is not a time to use them, then when?'
The recent posts on this blog have been exploring the history of the campaign against polio and there is at least one more lesson that we can usefully apply to the current situation with COVID-19
'NO ONE IS SAFE UNTIL EVERYONE IS SAFE'
In 2011, one year after our family's arrival in Chad to live, work and attend school, there was a spike in polio infections. One hundred and thirty two cases of paralytic polio were recorded and probably many more cases were missed. That amounted to 41% of the total cases in Africa, and Chad was considered a reservoir of infection that risked contaminating the neighbouring countries. A new programme of National Vaccination days was started, the first being inaugurated by President Debi Itno, with representatives from WHO and UNICEF, plus, from GAVI, Bill Gates in person.
In 2019 there were a concerning 10 cases of paralytic polio and then in February 2020 (not on the graph) a serious outbreak began resulting in 99 cases across the country. This spread across the borders to Sudan and The Central African Republic. The Chadian epidemic accounted for about a quarter of the worlds cases. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was difficult to get the resources to mount a response, but finally in November 2020, two vaccination campaigns 14 days apart managed to vaccinate 3,3 million children across the country including Bardai and the Tibesti.
This rapid reversal of the progress in eradication of polio shows that the WHO estimate of 200,000 cases of polio a year worldwide , if we fail to eradicate it in the last remaining endemic countries,is not a fiction, but an alarming reality. As we noted before.
'NO ONE IS SAFE UNTIL EVERYONE IS SAFE'
The Covid-19 virus presents a much greater problem than polio. It is spread by aerosol and that makes it much more difficult to control by simple hygeine measures than a disease like polio which is spread by food and water .In addition the Covid-19 virus is also capable of mutating and so can escape from the antibodies that are produced by vaccines. The polio virus does not mutate and the vaccines have remained effective for many years. Therefore for COVID even completely vaccinated countries could be reinfected by a vaccine resistant strain coming from non vaccinated countries. Logically We need to seize this opportunity to vaccinate everyone in the whole world. Then we can hopefully eliminate the disease. If not we will spend the next few years or decades with intermittent lock-downs, always be chasing a new vaccine and adding increasingly complex and expensive travel restrictions.
A year ago, when fear reigned at the height of the first wave, vaccines were but a distant hope. The President of the European Commission spoke for many when she said ',We need to develop a vaccine. We need to produce it and deploy it to very single corner of the world. And make it available at affordable prices. This vaccine will be our universal common good'
Even now, as vaccine nationalism takes hold and the vaccine gap between the haves and the have-nots widens every day, let us get back to a spirit of true international co-operation, pass the TRIPS waiver and organise technology transfers so that as many doses as possible of vaccine can be made this year.
If the moral imperative to alleviate suffering and death overseas is no longer enough to motivate the WTO and world leaders then surely long term self interest economic and social should lead them to the same conclusion.
'NO ONE IS SAFE UNTIL EVERYONE IS SAFE'
Today is Easter, a day of hope for new way of life, as we are writing this we received a Franciscan blessing from a friend, it speaks of striving for justice, we pass the last part on to you.
...may God bless you with the foolishness to think
that you can make a difference in the world,
so that you will do the things which others tell you
cannot be done
