tirsdag 18. januar 2022

Covid separating China from the world

There is a global social and political revolution brought about by the transformation of Covid from an epidemic to an endemic disease that might be with us for many years. A year ago, the belief was that we had reached a turning point and soon the pandemic would end because we now have the vaccine. So, we jab everyone, or almost everyone, we achieve herd immunity and life resumes as before or better than before.

Twelve months later, the situation looks very different, the forecast for the future must also change and things are no longer so rosy. The Covid epidemic is causing millions of new infections a day worldwide, with the most recent variant appearing less lethal but much more virulent than previous ones. In developed countries, which drive the global economy, 20–30% of the population refuses vaccination for ideological reasons.

A group of some serums has proven to be very effective in stopping the severity of the disease, but not the contagion. One can still get sick, but Covid often becomes just like a regular cold if someone is immunized. The vaccine, however, has shown a collapse in effectiveness after four months, so there is now a real possibility that the population will have to take a booster two to three times a year. What does it mean to protect 40-50 million people three times a year in Italy, for example?