Saturday, July 12, 2025
  • Login
198 Japan News
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • JAPAN US TRADE NEWS
    • JAPAN EU NEWS
    • JAPAN UK NEWS
    • JAPAN INDIA NEWS
    • JAPAN RUSSIA NEWS
    • JAPAN GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • JAPAN AFRICA NEWS
    • JAPAN EGYPT NEWS
    • JAPAN NIGERIA NEWS
    • JAPAN MEXICO NEWS
    • JAPAN BRAZIL NEWS
    • JAPAN THAILAND NEWS
    • JAPAN INDONESIA NEWS
  • CRYPTO
  • POLITICAL
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • JAPAN UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • JAPAN EDUCATION NEWS
    • JAPAN VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • JAPAN JOINT VENTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN BUSINESS HELP
    • JAPAN PARTNESHIPS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT
198 Japan News
  • HOME
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • JAPAN US TRADE NEWS
    • JAPAN EU NEWS
    • JAPAN UK NEWS
    • JAPAN INDIA NEWS
    • JAPAN RUSSIA NEWS
    • JAPAN GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • JAPAN AFRICA NEWS
    • JAPAN EGYPT NEWS
    • JAPAN NIGERIA NEWS
    • JAPAN MEXICO NEWS
    • JAPAN BRAZIL NEWS
    • JAPAN THAILAND NEWS
    • JAPAN INDONESIA NEWS
  • CRYPTO
  • POLITICAL
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • JAPAN UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • JAPAN EDUCATION NEWS
    • JAPAN VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • JAPAN JOINT VENTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN BUSINESS HELP
    • JAPAN PARTNESHIPS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
198 Japan News
No Result
View All Result
Home JAPAN NIGERIA NEWS

Pandemic prognosis: Where does it go from here?

by 198 Japan News
December 27, 2021
in JAPAN NIGERIA NEWS
Reading Time: 5 mins read
A A
0
Pandemic prognosis: Where does it go from here?
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

[ad_1]

Two years in, as the now omicron-fueled COVID-19 crisis rages, there is still hope the pandemic could begin fading in 2022 — though experts say gaping vaccine inequalities must be addressed.

It may seem like a far-off reality as countries impose fresh restrictions to address the fast-spreading new variant and surging cases, with a depressing feeling of deja vu setting in.

“We’re facing another very hard winter,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week.

But health experts say we are far better equipped now than a year ago to tame the pandemic, with ballooning stocks of safe and largely effective vaccines and new treatments available.

“We have the tools that can bring (the pandemic) to its knees,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the top WHO expert on the COVID-19 crisis, told reporters this month.

“We have the power to end it in 2022,” she insisted.

But, she added, they must be used correctly.

Glaring inequity

A year after the first vaccines came to market, around 8.5 billion doses have been administered globally.

And the world is on track to produce around 24 billion doses by June — more than enough for everyone on the planet.

But glaringly unequal vaccine access has meant that as many wealthy nations roll out additional doses to the already vaccinated, vulnerable people and health workers in many poorer nations are still waiting for a first jab.

About 67% of people in high-income countries have had at least one vaccine dose, but not even 10% in low-income countries have, U.N. numbers show.

A COVID-19 vaccination center in London on Sunday | AFP-JIJI
A COVID-19 vaccination center in London on Sunday | AFP-JIJI

That imbalance, which the WHO has branded a moral outrage, risks deepening further as many countries rush to roll out additional doses to respond to omicron.

Early data indicates that the heavily mutated variant, which has made a lightning dash around the globe since it was first detected in southern Africa last month, is more resistant to vaccines than previous strains.

While boosters do seem to push protection levels back up, the WHO insists that to end the pandemic, the priority must remain getting first doses to vulnerable people everywhere.

‘Myopic’

Allowing COVID-19 to spread unabated in some places dramatically increases the chance of new, more dangerous variants emerging, experts warn.

So even as wealthy countries roll out third shots, the world is not safe until everyone has some degree of immunity.

“No country can boost its way out of the pandemic,” Tedros said last week.

“Blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it.”

The emergence of omicron is evidence of that, WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan said.

“The virus has taken the opportunity to evolve.”

A COVID-19 patient connected to a ventilator at a hospital in Jesenice, Slovenia, on Dec. 8 | REUTERS
A COVID-19 patient connected to a ventilator at a hospital in Jesenice, Slovenia, on Dec. 8 | REUTERS

Gautam Menon, a physics and biology professor at Ashoka University in India, agreed it was in wealthy countries’ best interest to ensure poorer nations also get jabs.

“It would be myopic to assume that just by vaccinating themselves they have gotten rid of the problem.”

‘Part of the furniture’

Ryan suggested increased vaccination should get us to a point where COVID-19 “settles into a pattern that is less disruptive.”

But he warns that if the world fails to address the imbalance in vaccine access, the worst could still lie ahead.

One nightmare scenario envisions the pandemic left to rage out of control amid a steady barrage of new variants, even as a separate strain sparks a parallel pandemic.

Confusion and disinformation would shrink trust in authorities and science, as health systems collapse and political turmoil ensues.

This is one of several “plausible” scenarios, according to Ryan.

“The double-pandemic one is of particular concern, because we have one virus causing a pandemic now, and many others lined up.”

But better global vaccine coverage could mean that COVID-19 — though not likely to fully disappear — will become a largely controlled endemic disease, with milder seasonal outbreaks that we will learn to live with, like the flu, experts say.

It will basically “become part of the furniture,” said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist at the University of California in Irvine.

Overwhelmed hospitals

But we’re not yet there.

Experts caution against too much optimism around early indications that omicron causes less severe disease than previous strains, pointing out that it is spreading so fast it could still overwhelm health systems.

“When you have so many, many infections, even if it is less severe … (hospitals) are going to be very stressed,” top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told NBC News last week.

That is a depressing prospect two years after the virus first surfaced in China.

The scenes of intubated patients in overcrowded hospitals and long lines of people scrambling to find oxygen for loved ones have never ceased.

Images of improvised funeral pyres burning across a delta-hit India have epitomized the human cost of the pandemic.

Officially, nearly 5.5 million people have died worldwide, although the actual toll is likely several times higher.

All vaccine hesitancy could increase that toll.

In the United States, which remains the worst-affected country with over 800,000 deaths, the constant flow of short obituaries on the FacesOfCovid Twitter account include many who did not have the jab.

“Amanda, a 36-year-old math teacher in Kentucky. Chris, a 34-year-old high school football coach in Kansas. Cherie, a 40-year-old 7th-grade reading teacher in Illinois. All had an impact in their communities,” read a recent post.

“All deeply loved. All unvaccinated.”

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

You might also like

Mitsubishi to produce autos in Africa again after 10-year hiatus

Breakthrough seen in Ukraine grain export talks as heavy shelling continues

a review through the cover image

PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

[ad_2]

Source link

Tags: pandemicprognosis
Share30Tweet19

Recommended For You

Mitsubishi to produce autos in Africa again after 10-year hiatus

by 198 Japan News
July 17, 2022
0
Mitsubishi to produce autos in Africa again after 10-year hiatus

Mitsubishi Motors will begin producing compact commercial vehicles in Kenya in early August, as tariffs in Africa are expected to be lifted in the near future under a...

Read moreDetails

Breakthrough seen in Ukraine grain export talks as heavy shelling continues

by 198 Japan News
July 14, 2022
0
Breakthrough seen in Ukraine grain export talks as heavy shelling continues

Ukraine, the United Nations and Turkey hailed progress at talks in Istanbul that aim to resume Black Sea grain exports blocked by Russia and ease the risk of...

Read moreDetails

a review through the cover image

by 198 Japan News
July 13, 2022
0
a review through the cover image

The cover of The Routledge Handbook of Critical Studies in Whiteness carries a striking image courtesy of South African artist Norman Catherine. The image was created in 2015...

Read moreDetails

Rivals vying to replace Johnson are diverse in background, not in plans

by 198 Japan News
July 12, 2022
0
Rivals vying to replace Johnson are diverse in background, not in plans

LONDON – Four are women. Six have recent forbears hailing from far beyond Europe — India, Iraq, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria and Pakistan. Of the three white men, one...

Read moreDetails

Blinken meets PM Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, praises Shinzo Abe’s legacy

by 198 Japan News
July 11, 2022
0
Blinken meets PM Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, praises Shinzo Abe’s legacy

Tokyo , July 11 (ANI): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo to offer his condolences on the demise...

Read moreDetails
Next Post
Japan retail sales gain 1.9% in November | Shoppers ramp up spending on goods, services | World News

Japan retail sales gain 1.9% in November | Shoppers ramp up spending on goods, services | World News

News@10 | 26/12/2021

News@10 | 26/12/2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
FTX to Help Voyager Customers, CEO Says Firm Willing to Deploy ‘Hundreds of Millions’ to Help Crypto Industry – Bitcoin News

FTX to Help Voyager Customers, CEO Says Firm Willing to Deploy ‘Hundreds of Millions’ to Help Crypto Industry – Bitcoin News

July 24, 2022
California governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

California governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

July 24, 2022
China accuses Japan of interfering in its internal affairs on Taiwan question

China accuses Japan of interfering in its internal affairs on Taiwan question

April 8, 2025
Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

July 24, 2022
Neymar declares wish to stay at Paris Saint Germain

Neymar declares wish to stay at Paris Saint Germain

July 23, 2022
With an eye on China, Seoul seeks to prevent tech leaks

With an eye on China, Seoul seeks to prevent tech leaks

July 23, 2022
FTX to Help Voyager Customers, CEO Says Firm Willing to Deploy ‘Hundreds of Millions’ to Help Crypto Industry – Bitcoin News

FTX to Help Voyager Customers, CEO Says Firm Willing to Deploy ‘Hundreds of Millions’ to Help Crypto Industry – Bitcoin News

0
California governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

California governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

0
China accuses Japan of interfering in its internal affairs on Taiwan question

China accuses Japan of interfering in its internal affairs on Taiwan question

0
Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

0
Neymar declares wish to stay at Paris Saint Germain

Neymar declares wish to stay at Paris Saint Germain

0
With an eye on China, Seoul seeks to prevent tech leaks

With an eye on China, Seoul seeks to prevent tech leaks

0
FTX to Help Voyager Customers, CEO Says Firm Willing to Deploy ‘Hundreds of Millions’ to Help Crypto Industry – Bitcoin News

FTX to Help Voyager Customers, CEO Says Firm Willing to Deploy ‘Hundreds of Millions’ to Help Crypto Industry – Bitcoin News

July 24, 2022
California governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

California governor declares emergency over wildfire near Yosemite

July 24, 2022
China accuses Japan of interfering in its internal affairs on Taiwan question

China accuses Japan of interfering in its internal affairs on Taiwan question

April 8, 2025
Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

Kyodo News Digest: July 24, 2022

July 24, 2022
With an eye on China, Seoul seeks to prevent tech leaks

With an eye on China, Seoul seeks to prevent tech leaks

July 23, 2022
Brands of Baseball Gloves

Brands of Baseball Gloves

July 23, 2022
  • Browse the latest updates from Japan
  • Contact us
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • DMCA
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions

Copyright © 2025 198 Japan News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Browse the latest updates from Japan
  • Landing Page
  • Buy JNews
  • Support Forum
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2025 198 Japan News.