The "acute phase" of the Covid-19 pandemic could be over by the end of 2021, according to a former White House medical adviser.
Dr Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said it was possible to end the worst of the global outbreak through mass vaccination initiatives.
But it will be “one of the most complicated logistical operations” ever undertaken, he said.
His organisation, founded at Davos and based in Oslo, hopes that between four and six billion people will be vaccinated over the next nine months.
“If we can end the acute phase of the pandemic by protecting the most vulnerable, the virus will continue to circulate until we vaccinate almost everyone,” said Dr Hatchett, who served in the Obama and Bush administrations as director of medical preparedness on the national security staff.
“But we can take the economic sting and cost of human lives out of the pandemic. And we hope to be able to do that by the end of this year.
“We cannot underestimate the challenge of what we are undertaking.”
He was speaking at an online conference organised by the Hope Consortium, an Abu Dhabi-based logistics group set up to deliver vaccines around the globe.
The conference also heard from Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, who warned the gap between the number of vaccines administered in rich countries and by Covax is growing "every single day".
He said the inequitable distribution of vaccines was not simply a moral issue.
"It is also economically and epidemiologically self-defeating," he said.
"The world will not be safe until everyone is safe, as the more transmission there is, the more variants there will be.
"And the more variants that emerge, the more likely it is that they will evade vaccines. As long as the virus continues to circulate anywhere, people will continue to die.”
The scale of the operation needed to address the issue is "truly unprecedented", he said.
UAE gears up to produce own vaccine
-
Bottles move along a production line at Julphar's manufacturing facility in Ras Al Khaimah in this file image. The company is already producing the Sinopharm vaccine and will be part of a plan to build a dedicated plant in Abu Dhabi's Kizad zone. Pawan Singh / The National -
Inside view of the manufacturing area at Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries in Ras Al Khaimah, in a file image. Pawan Singh / The National -
Staff from Abu Dhabi's G42 undergo testing at the company's Biogenix lab in Masdar City. The firm outlined a plan to create 200 million doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine under the name Hayat-Vax, at a new and dedicated plant in Abu Dhabi's Kizad. Victor Besa / The National -
Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, principle investigator of Phase 3 clinical trials of Sinopharm and Ashish Koshy, CEO of G42 Healthcare, speak to The National in January. The successful trials paved the way for the vaccine to be approved, and now produced, in the UAE. Victor Besa / The National -
Ashish Koshy said the UAE wants to ensure that vaccines are made from start to finish in the emirates. Vidhyaa Chandramohan for The National -
An Abu Dhabi resident waves as he is processed for a PCR test at G42 Healthcare's Biogenix lab in Masdar City. The company, together with Ras Al Khaimah drug maker Julphar, have begun manufacturing China's Sinopharm vaccine in the UAE. Victor Besa / The National -
A healthcare worker holds up saliva sample vials at the Biogenix lab at G42 in Masdar City. Victor Besa / The National -
G42 has branched out into testing, vaccine production and vaccine trials, among other fields. Victor Besa / The National
