But on Thursday, as the United States co-hosts a second covid-19 summit designed to further the fight against the pandemic with funding for vaccines and more, this batten-the-hatches battle appears already forgotten.
The pandemic may be far from over, however. The global number of new cases is far lower than it was during the omicron wave over the winter, but it remains as high as it was at most points during the preceding two years. Even that may be a gross undercount, as experts told the Associated Press recently that the testing dropped by 70 percent to 90 percent worldwide from the first to the second quarter of this year.
Even countries that had once been able to limit the spread of the virus — such as former epicenter China with its “zero covid” policy — are struggling to cope with waves of cases.
This week’s vaccine summit hopes to beat back this current global apathy. “The pandemic is not over, and now is the time to prepare for the next one,” the White House said in a fact sheet sent to reporters, adding that fighting covid-19 “must remain an international priority.”
“This is the moment to intensify efforts, not to ease off,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other global health leaders said in their own Tuesday statement.
But there are signs everywhere of how momentum has been lost. Last year, the White House and the WHO announced that countries should be aiming for 70 percent vaccination rate. It was always an ambitious target. Now, it looks impossible.
While almost 70 percent of the world has received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, these doses have been shared unevenly. According to tracking from Our World in Data at Oxford University, at least 125 countries haven’t reached the 70 percent threshold yet. Thirty-nine countries are yet to hit 20 percent — with almost all of those classified as low income by the World Bank.
The Biden administration asked Congress to authorize $22.5 billion in additional pandemic assistance, including $5 billion for global effort, in March. But the money has become the subject of bitter fighting between Democrats and Republicans. So far, it hasn’t arrived.
Its price tag? Almost $40 billion in aid to Ukraine — more than Biden had actually asked for.
In a statement released Wednesday, Michele Heisler, medical director at Physicians for Human Rights, called it “both shameful and imprudent that the United States is coming to this summit with no additional funds committed to support the global COVID-19 vaccine roll out.”
Much of that blame may lie with Congress, though there are concerns about the Biden administration’s commitment, too. Politico reported this week that the U.S. president may only make a prerecorded statement at the summit, rather than a live appearance at the virtual meeting, co-hosted with Belize, Germany, Indonesia and Senegal.
Advocates argue that it makes financial sense to invest in fighting the pandemic now. In fact, it’s not just a good return on investment — it’s a bargain, considering we now know just how devastating covid and other pandemics can be.