The coronavirus crisis is holding up a mirror that shows us the inherent problems of health care systems in Israel and around the world. This crisis is one of many, and likely not the biggest, we with which we will be confronted. Global climate change is causing a number of phenomena that range from natural disasters to climate refugees to destabilized regimes.
The conditions that led to the outbreak of coronavirus, as well as other illnesses in the past few decades, are strongly linked to the deep-seated ecological changes taking place all over the world, and the health challenge isn't the only one we will face in the future. Meanwhile, the health care system in Israel and elsewhere went into the COVID crisis already in state of long-term, ongoing crisis. This was the result of years of under-investment in infrastructure and personnel in public health systems, as well as constantly rising costs of medical technology and the pharmaceutical industry that is creating less innovation and more profits for shareholders.
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I am lumping things together – the progress on developing vaccines, including Pfizer's announcement about the higher-than-expected efficacy of its COVID vaccine, as well as reports of mutations – including news from Denmark that it would be culling some 16 million minks being raised on 1,100 farms to stop the spread of a mutated version of COVID that can infect humans.
The obvious link between the news about progress on a vaccine and the mink mutation is the fear that a mutation of the virus could make potential vaccines less effective, but in my view, the link is much deeper and has to do with issues of economics, priorities, and sustainability.
The news about various vaccine contenders, that are moving ahead through various stages of clinical trials, is wonderful. In human history, we have never developed vaccines so quickly. But in my opinion, this is a narrow view of things: the World Health Organization and other international bodies have effectively failed to develop a vaccine plan that would adopt a global view and emphasize cooperation in comparing different vaccines in a more efficient manner, saving time and resources and ensuring that it could be mass-produced cooperatively all over the world.
That is one of the key roles of the WHO – to organize operations to stop the spread of pandemics. The WHO did direct the successful global campaign to eradicate the bubonic plague, and is now overseeing the attempt to eradicate polio. But instead, the process of developing vaccines has turned into a competition in the worst sense of the word, which will result in many countries – including Israel – not receiving it on time. According to the RAND Corporation, this lack of cooperation will mean that many countries will receive the vaccine only after lengthy delays, which would cost the world over a trillion dollars in losses. Until a few decades ago, many countries had institutes that could create vaccines in emergencies, whereas today the process is more complicated and must be re-imagined to make it more sustainable.
Similarly, the culling of minks in Denmark demands that we rethink sustainability and the ties between humans and animals. The painful mass destruction of the minks demonstrates the problematic nature of the fur industry. Animals being kept in crowded, filthy conditions is fertile ground for outbreaks of disease such as the bird flu. In effect, COVID reached us because of contact between animals and humans. If we do not make far-reaching changes to the food industry and our relationship with animals, it's only a question of time before we see different mutations that will cause the virus to spread.
COVID holds up a mirror, forcing us to look at inherent aspects of existing economies. These are only two examples, and there are many more. Will we make changes? It's in our hands – change won't happen on its own.
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