US and COVID-19: Bad luck truly worse than obeah
THE anonymous Jamaican adage, “Bad luck worse than obeah,” would appear to apply to the United States and the grim battle it is waging, but not yet winning, against the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The latest blow in months of bad COVID-19 news came yesterday when the highly reputable New York Times newspaper reported that US officials last summer told drug giant Pfizer a polite ‘no, thank you’ to an opportunity to order additional doses of the vaccine to combat the virus.
That was before the vaccine was developed, and now that it has demand for more than the 100 million doses on order from Pfizer is clear. But the company is doubtful it can provide the additional doses before next June, because of commitments to the other countries.
The Pfizer/biontech vaccine is a two-dose treatment, meaning that the 100 million doses on order are enough to vaccinate only 50 million Americans — out of a population of over 300 million people.
New York Times said the US Administration was scrambling to try to purchase more doses of the vaccine, and outgoing President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order today “to ensure that United States Government prioritises getting the vaccine to American citizens before sending it to other nations”.
If that should mean forcing Pfizer to tear up supply contracts with other countries, it could put the US on a collision course with the European Union (EU), which last month ordered 200 million doses of the vaccine.
Indeed, shipments to Europe could begin by the end of the year, and the contract includes an option for 100 million more doses. And that is not counting orders from other countries which might not yet be announced, including Jamaica and other nations under the COVAX arrangement put together by the World Health Organization to benefit small countries.
We note that Britain plans to begin a vaccination drive today using the Pfizer/biontech product, making it the first Western nation to start mass vaccinations.
Moreover, the vaccine is not entirely Americanowned, as it has been developed by Pfizer and its German partner Biontech; therefore, the US may not have full legal jurisdiction over it.
We would not like to see a situation like what happened in the early days after the virus first struck when the US was running down shipments of ventilators and personal protective equipment at sea and returning them to the mainland.
The US can scarcely afford to be at further contretemps with other nations over the vaccine at a time when it needs international empathy as the virus breaks records for infection and death across that country.
As of Jamaica Observer press time yesterday, more than 14,925,300 people in the United States had been infected with the virus, and at least 282,900 had died. The country has set records for cases, deaths and hospitalisations, even as officials imposed new restrictions seeking to curb its spread.
Of course, a happier scenario is that another vaccine, developed by Moderna, is also likely to be approved for emergency use soon, to be followed by other promising ones. That way, countries should not be jostling each other for vaccines.
Except for the views expressed in the column above, the articles published on this page do not necessarily represent the views of the Jamaica Observer.