Next Covid-19 test? Diagnostic blind spots stir visions of bleak midwinter
- Patchy vaccination coverage threatens efforts to keep the coronavirus at bay, while relaxing restrictions may bring a rebound in cases
- But dangers posed by new variants may be multiplied by poorer countries lacking the resources to detect them
Vaccination drives around the globe have shown varying progress, while even countries that have largely inoculated their populations and contained their outbreaks could find their success undone by a lack of resources in others.
Poorer countries’ weaker testing capability, for example, has created “blind spots” in the world’s ability to detect and guard against dangerous new variants, said Jerome Kim, director general of the International Vaccine Institute.
“I worry about the winter,” Kim said. “There are too many places, too many people, who are not vaccinated and who probably won’t be vaccinated by December. In countries with high vaccination rates there are often pockets of unvaccinated people.”
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With over 2.19 billion shots in arms, China has fully vaccinated 78 per cent of its population
In the United States, about 58 per cent of the population has been vaccinated, but relatively high mortality rates have been reported in communities where vaccination rates are low. Last Wednesday, for example, the country recorded over 2,200 deaths caused by Covid-19.
But even if those areas of low vaccination were to administer more jabs, inadequate testing resources in other countries presents a threat to everyone, Kim said.
