It felt like déjà vu all over again, as the famous quote goes. Just when we sensed a return to normality, we faced a new variant – Omicron – with rapid case rises threatening our health system and dampening the Christmas spirit. Right now, having seemingly passed the peak, there’s reason for cautious optimism about the path ahead, with our high vaccination rates, testing capabilities, and the hard-working people of the NHS to thank.
There’s a clear lesson from Omicron: we must work to tackle the virus abroad as the first stage of protection at home. Yet the world is still failing to heed this warning as the gap between the availability of lifesaving vaccines and innovations in rich and poor countries persists. The pandemic continues to cause devastation in many parts of the world, at the same time threatening years of progress made against other infectious diseases that result in millions of lives lost every year. And the likelihood of new pandemics is only increasing – the next one could be much deadlier and more destructive at home and abroad. Omicron’s remarkable spread underlines the critical need for the world to work together now, both to defeat this virus and prevent pandemics in the future.
