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As I see it | Vaccination is only a means of curbing the spread of coronavirus. Let’s focus on the goal instead
- With Omicron, there is a need to stem the mortality rate and keep hospital admissions in check, making the speedy development of treatments essential
- Pfizer’s Paxlovid shows 89 per cent effectiveness against Covid-19 and if proven in real-world tests the firm is morally obliged to allow affordable access
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The Omicron variant, with its high transmissibility, has rendered our measures to contain and alleviate the coronavirus far less effective – the goal of humanity’s battle with the virus is no longer stopping its spread but stemming deaths and hospital admissions.
It is understandable that countries want to redouble vaccination efforts, with data showing vaccines are useful in cutting rates of hospitalisation and mortality.
But let’s not mistake the goal for the means. Vaccination is only the means, the goal is to keep death and severity of illness to a minimum.
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The voices rallying for vaccination are louder than those lobbying for drugs because governments, the science community and the media must contend with anti-vax campaigns and vaccine hesitancy.
But to hit the bullseye, the same level of attention should be given to speeding up the availability of treatment – and there is hope for effective treatment.
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An antiviral pill by Pfizer called Paxlovid has shown 89 per cent effectiveness against Covid-19, including against Omicron and earlier variants.
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