Global Lessons from the Pandemic: Cooperation, Vaccination, and Health Equity

Of the different lessons that the pandemic leaves us covid 19 there are at least two of them that we should learn from and could help us better prepare for potential crises to come. When all global players work together in a shared y coordinated with the same mission (to use the concept of Mariana Mazzucato) as happened years before before the mission to the Lunathe results are spectacular. We would never have managed to obtain the covid 19 vaccines in record time if the scientific groups had not cooperated and shared information, the private sector had not taken risks with their innovation and investment, and if the public system had not advanced the investment of the purchase of vaccines when they were not yet injectable, with some advantageous clauses for the industry.

This experience seems to have been clear. What we do not seem to have learned so much from is the fact of understanding that an effective response necessarily involves global immunization and that access to vaccines cannot go back to being profoundly unequal as it was during the last pandemic. Vaccines have become more than just a decisive instrument of global health. In the multipolar geopolitical tableau that we live in today, vaccines have become an instrument of health diplomacy, exerting a strong strategy of influencing countries such as China y Russia in regions of geopolitical interest (Latin America and Africa, For example). It is time to take stock of the different strategies adopted, analyze the effectiveness of solidarity instruments such as Covaxto obtain lessons learned and to sow the new immunization strategy for the future.

The other big lesson of the pandemic in terms of global health is the widespread impact it suffered in 2020 immunization in different regions by reducing access to health services and the scope of vaccination. According to UNICEF, “the number of children who did not receive even their first vaccinations increased in all regions. Compared to 2019, 3.5 million more children missed their first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP-1) vaccine, while 3 million more children missed their first dose of the measles vaccine.” Data that raises strong alarm in the immunization of children against preventable childhood diseases and triggered widespread outbreaks of measles and others diseases.

He Government of Spain has well understood its role on the global health dashboard in recent years, has known how to share its vaccines with key regions such as Latin America in the midst of a pandemic and resumed the firm commitment and commitment to the different multilateral health funds (global fund, Gavi, Cepesetc.) that he had undertaken in the year 2006. It is therefore no coincidence that next week several world leaders, international organizations, experts and civil society from around the world meet in Madrid convened by Gavi (Global Vaccination Alliance) in a high-level meeting to discuss its future strategy and increase efforts to better prepare the way to respond to upcoming crises, having a greater capacity to generate clinical trials in Africato strengthen health systems and to build mechanisms that guarantee greater access to the generation and production of vaccines and medicines by the poorest countries.

A few days ago, the Princess of Asturias Foundation made public its annual award in the category of international cooperation for DNDI, an organization that was born precisely to encourage research and promote the development of new treatments for neglected diseases. All of this is committed to better global health, which is nothing more than the best guarantee of a more equitable and geopolitically safer world, which we hope will continue to receive the attention and leading role of spain regardless of what the electoral result is next July 23th.