by Rashid Ating
The year 2020 will firmly be embedded in the memory of human beings in this country and the world’s entire population. Unlike the previous year, this year offers a lot of challenges, hurdles, and hardships for everyone in various forms. While some might not have been severely impacted, others have been directly hit by this unprecedented event. A similar phenomenon occurred not only in Malaysia and ASEAN countries but the entire world but received the same fate due to the unexpected advent of the Covid-19 virus. To prevent the virus from getting worse and infecting many populations, enforcement of curfews was one of the alternatives used by most countries. Nevertheless, this double-edged sword action caused the economy of some countries to cripple.
Approaching two years since the outbreak started, the “silver bullet” or the magical cure for the Covid-19 virus was still not manifested. This “silver bullet” is expected to be a game changer and stabilize the world as usual, as before the emergence of this epidemic. Some world leaders promise the vaccine will be available at the end of 2020. However, this is only a false hope. Vaccine development is more challenging than we might think, and the human population needs at least 10 years to develop a vaccine that the entire world community will eventually use. In addition, cures for previous viruses, such as Ebola and MERS (Middle East Repository System), have just been found. Hence, the previous experience taught us that the production of vaccines is very unlikely to be fulfilled.
Despite facing a low probability of being unable to produce a cure for Covid-19, the race to build “silver bullets” is still ongoing among developed countries, particularly America, Russia, China, and India. It is a very lucrative business as the first country to produce this cure monopolizes the global vaccine market. To date, 17 clinical trials are already in Stage 1, 11 in Levels 2 and 3, and only 9 vaccines are in Level 3. To accelerate the process, 6 vaccines with emergency authorization status and limited permission from the United States, Russia, and China have been widely distributed without waiting for the result of Level 3 Clinical Trials. This issue creates alarming concern and anger among some experts because the vaccines were not fully tested yet distributed on a large scale. To make it even worse, the entire population uses the vaccine without any idea of its efficacy. From the research standpoint, this was utterly unethical because it ignored the strict clinical testing protocols required prior to that to ensure the safety and effectiveness of that particular vaccine.
Looking at this moment, we can presume a slight glimmer of hope for producing the first “silver bullet”, with scientists worldwide working tirelessly to create the first cure for Covid-19. Some world powerhouses have already dealt with leading vaccine manufacturers such as Moderna, Pfitzer, Oxford-Astrazeneca, and Sputnik-V to bulk the vaccine in large quantities for their countries, respectively. It can be achieved by a strong influence and financial capabilities that allow them to pre-order the vaccines entering Phase 3 of clinical trials. Nevertheless, developing and developing countries, especially in the African and South American Continent, which have a high rate of case infection and death across the continents, need to queue for their turn as some citizens may lose their lives before acquiring the vaccine. Singapore might be fine to get the vaccine (considering its financial strength and medical facilities as one of the best in Southeast Asia). Nevertheless, for the Philippines and Indonesia, it will require an astronomical amount of government expenditure to safeguard their citizens’ well-being during this critical moment. Apart from being heavily affected by the third wave of this pandemic, there are few developing countries in this region relying on Sinovac, a leading vaccines producer from China, which is quite alarming due to the unproven efficacy of the vaccines plus there was shady track record by this particular vaccine producer.
Quantifying the severity of the current condition, drastic measures must be taken to rejuvenate the economy. Nevertheless, the vaccine distribution will require some time before it can be disseminated in various stages based on the possibility of infected individuals, starting with frontline workers, the elderly, babies, and young people. At the same time, the youngster will be the last group to receive this vaccine. The vaccine also required a cold chain requirement to keep the vaccines at a temperature of -17 degree Celsius and need to handle with the utmost care.
The Covid-19 pandemic will not fade away easily, as predicted before. The distribution process itself has proven to be quite challenging. It makes the process more difficult as some isolated places, especially aboriginals and communities in remote areas, need a proper transportation mechanism for the government to reach them quickly. The world must embrace a new normal before acquiring the first ‘silver bullet’.
Rashid Ating is a Sabahan from Lahad Datu who works as a Researcher at the Department of Economics and Applied Statistics, Faculty of Business & Economics and at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS), Universiti Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia. This article does not reflect the opinion and policies of the institutions involved. It is the author’s opinion, research and experience while engaged in fieldwork. The author can be contacted via email atrashid_ating@um.edu.my
