January 20, 2021
Marilynn Marchione
AP – The race against the virus that causes COVID-19 has taken a new turn: Mutations are rapidly popping up, and the longer it takes to vaccinate people, the more likely it is that a variant that can elude current tests, treatments and vaccines could emerge.
The coronavirus is becoming more genetically diverse, and health officials said the high rate of new cases is the main reason. Each new infection gives the virus a chance to mutate as it makes copies of itself, threatening to undo the progress made so far to control the pandemic.
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged more effort to detect new variants. The United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said a new version first identified in the United Kingdom (UK) may become dominant in the US by March. Although it doesn’t cause more severe illness, it will lead to more hospitalisations and deaths just because it spreads much more easily, said the CDC
Independent Consultant With the impending need to start a global COVID-19 vaccination campaign just as further waves of coronavirus are rising again around the world, what can we learn from other health emergencies and humanitarian crises to deal with this one? The speed and breadth of the global COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed the health planning and communication capacity in many countries, even those in the West with sophisticated tools to gather and share information. In light of the confusion, lack of coordination, conflicting policies, and resulting erosion of trust seen in some settings, this paper distils some of the learning gained in the humanitarian aid sector in accountability around two-way communication, community engagement, and the participation of vulnerable people. It explores how these approaches can be applied to support the COVID-19 response in all countries. The paper and accompanying webinar recording (