AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covid 'vaccine for the world' is just what the doctor ordered – Scotsman comment

In 2014, an Ebola virus outbreak began in West Africa, killing more than 11,000 people and causing an estimated $53 billion of damage to the economy.

Nations should collaborate on a global effort to vaccinate people against the Covid-19 coronavirus (Picture: Antonio Diaz/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

According to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the “world’s response to this crisis fell tragically short”. While a vaccine had been under development for a decade, it was not deployed until a year later. “That vaccine was shown to be 100 per cent effective, suggesting that much of the epidemic could have been prevented,” Cepi says on its website.

So we should be impressed by the speed with which vaccines have been developed against Covid-19, with more good news about trials, this time from AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

Unlike two other versions, the Oxford vaccine does not need to be stored below minus 70 degrees Celsius and can be kept in a normal fridge, making it easier and cheaper to distribute. Those behind the vaccine have also made a “no-profit pledge” that will further reduce the costs.

Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, declared: “We have a vaccine for the world.”

And that is very much what is needed. It is possible to eradicate a virus, as shown with smallpox, but it requires co-operation on a global scale.

‘Vaccine nationalism’ makes little sense because a virus knows nothing of human borders. Innoculating one country’s population may protect them for a while, but if the virus continues to rage in other parts of the world it could mutate to the extent that the vaccine is no longer effective.

So a global vaccination drive is not simply a matter of morality, it is in the selfish, narrow interest of us all.

Scientists have been warning for some time about the increased risk of new strains of infectious diseases, partly as a result of the rising human population and greater global travel but also because of the disruption to natural life-cycles caused by climate change and habitat destruction. By creating a new environment, we are providing greater impetus to the evolution of species – and viruses – because they must adapt to their new surroundings.

So the aim of Cepi – “to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and enable access to these vaccines for people during outbreaks” – is one we should all support.

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