THE pandemic covid-19more than 3.3 million people have died so far, tens of millions more have been infected and the global economy has been hit hard, “could have been avoided,” according to a panel of independent experts.
In their report entitled: “Covid-19: Let it be the last Pandemic” (COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic) published today, these experts denounce a “real Chernobyl of the 21st century” and call for immediate changes to the warning and prevention systems.
“The situation we are in today could have been avoided,” she said Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia and one of the Co-Chairs of the Committee of Experts.
Although strict, the expert report does not consider that there is only one culprit for the evolution of the pandemic. On the contrary “This situation is due to myriad failures, shortcomings and delays in preparation and response” in the pandemic, Sirliff underlined during a press conference.
This is explicitly stated in the experts’ report: “It is clear that the combination of poor strategic choices, a lack of desire to address inequalities and a system that lacked coordination created a toxic cocktail that allowed the pandemic to turn into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. crisis”.
Delays everywhere
The committee was appointed by Secretary-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tantros Antanom Grebregesus based on the decision adopted in May 2020 by the member countries and consists of 13 experts. They have been examining the spread of the pandemic for eight months and the measures taken by the WHO, as well as the countries to deal with it.
Since the beginning of the health crisis, the WHO has been criticized for the way it manages it, especially for its belated recommendation for the use of the mask. The United States has accused the agency of being particularly lenient with China, where the new coronavirus first appeared, and of delaying declaring a global health emergency.
On her side China has been criticized for trying to hide the epidemic.
“We can say for sure that there have been clear delays in China, but there have been delays everywhere,” said former New Zealand Prime Minister Ellen Clark, co-chair of the commission.
“A long time has passed,” the experts observed, between the detection of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin in the second half of December 2019 and the declaration on January 30 by the WHO of a global state of emergency.
According to the committee, the WHO should have declared a state of emergency as early as the first meeting of the Crisis Committee on 22 January. However, even if a state of emergency had been declared a week earlier, things would not have changed much due to “the inaction of so many countries,” Clark admitted.
Because only on 11 March 2020, when Tentros described the situation as a “pandemic”, countries realized the magnitude of the risk.
February 2020, a lost month
In this sense, February 2020 was a “lost month” during which many countries could have taken steps to curb the spread of the virus.
“Delays, hesitations and denials” allowed the epidemic to spread, the experts’ report concludes.
The panel urges governments and the international community to adopt reforms without delay to change the global pandemic preparedness, warning and response system.
For this reason, experts propose a number of measures, such as the creation of a Global Health Threat Council, but also the implementation of a new global monitoring system based on full transparency. This system will enable the WHO to immediately publish information on epidemics that may spread and become pandemics without seeking the approval of countries.
Moreover, the term of office of the President of the WHO should be one and limited to seven years in order to avoid succumbing to political pressure.
The panel of experts is also proposing a series of immediate measures to stem the spread of covid-19, calling on rich countries to offer more than 2 billion doses of vaccine by mid-2022, of which at least 1 billion by September, in 92 low- and middle-income countries.
At the same time, WHO and World Trade Organization should call on governments and the pharmaceutical industry to reach an agreement on the voluntary removal of vaccine patents and the sharing of technological know-how for their production in order to increase the production of covid-19 vaccines.
“If no agreement can be reached within three months, then vaccine patents should be revoked immediately.” stressed Clark.
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