With over 2.6 million deaths worldwide (over 530,000 in the US), countless businesses decimated and massive social disruption, we can probably say we lost the war against COVID-19. The good news is that vaccination programs are underway…
with almost 100 million doses administered in the US; this could be considered miracle – vaccine development typically takes in the vicinity of a decade!
In more good news it appears that the major Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are safe and effective as expected and anticipated to be effective against the current variants that are circulating. The newly approved Johnson and Johnson vaccine is also very promising, and the only vaccine with some questions marks at the moment is the Oxford-AstraZeneca. There are reports that it may not be adequately effective against the South African variant. Recent reports have associated the vaccine with blood clotting issues (pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis) but these have not been substantiated; investigations are currently underway and a few countries have halted vaccination until the issue is resolved. Regarding variants, the P.1 variant is causing major issues in Brazil at moment with cases surging again and reportedly the health system almost overwhelmed.
Looking back at the year, treatment of COVID-19 with antivirals and other therapeutics did not live up to expectation. Drug repurposing which was initially seen as the key to controlling the pandemic ended up being disappointing. However, research into antivirals and therapeutics needs to be continued enthusiastically in preparedness for potential escape variants or any other incidents. The broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory dexamethasone, is the exception and along with oxygen supplementation and mechanical ventilation became an important drug for severe COVID-19 disease.
Draconian lockdown measures, social distancing and masking proved to be the key in preventing the spread of the virus. This a strategy successfully employed by a number of countries including Australia and New Zealand which largely avoided the health impacts of the virus (social impacts were not spared); this strategy followed the well-known historical rules and the rule successfully established in Wuhan the initial epicentre of the virus.
Hopefully, with the vaccination programs gaining traction globally (and the exciting observations from Israel which has the highest rate of vaccinations per person and is highlighting that vaccines are leading to massive drops in sever COVID-19 disease), the road to “normalcy” is looking good! In the US the $1.9 trillion that was passed on the anniversary of the declaration of the pandemic by WHO will help in the immediate future!
Until next time …