2021 was the year of vaccine development, and 2022 will be a vaccinations and booster shots year, as per the opinion of a vaccine institute expert.
“2022 will be the year of vaccination — either primary for people who haven’t been vaccinated, or booster vaccinations for those of us who have,” said Jerome Kim who is the Director General of the International Vaccine Institute.
“Hopefully, it will also mark the year when anti-Covid drugs will come to the fore, and make treatment more effective,” Kim expressed.
Corona virus has killed over 5.4 million people across the world since emerging in late 2019.
At the end of 2021, omicron variant has emerged, and cases of omicron variant worldwide have increased in recent weeks. The caseload in the USA hit a record high in the last week.
The key priority in 2022 is getting vaccines to people who need it — especially those in poorer countries who have limited access to them, Kim said.
Kim said, “A really critical point to make — omicron is not the omega and we are going to see additional mutants and variants of concern, and hopefully we become more equitable in the use of vaccines.”
Kim highlighted a diagnostics gap that is there at the diagnosis stage of Covid-19.
“That implies that in lower income countries, they don’t do as many tests and they definitely don’t do as many sequences,” he said.
He expressed that countries should get better at addressing a divide.
Kim said, “It’s the sequencing of variants from all over the world that allow scientists to know if new worrisome variant is emerging. “Getting on top of it as quickly as possible is key if we want to open up, because we know that air travel does fairly efficiently spread the coronavirus.”
