Safely Reopening Requires Testing, Tracing and Isolation, Not Just Vaccines 11 February 2021
by Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund & Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator
No matter how effective vaccines are, they are not enough.
The recent surge of positive COVID-19 vaccine developments has sent waves of relief throughout a pandemic-weary world. However, no matter how effective these vaccines are, they will not be enough to end this global pandemic and for many of the world’s most vulnerable communities, they won’t arrive fast enough.
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were developed in record time. However, these announcements highlight significant challenges: delivering two-dose vaccines with stringent cold-chain requirements to almost eight billion people, many of whom reside in communities with underfunded and strained health systems, is no small feat. Even if we address the logistical challenges, the reality is that it ta