At the beginning of 2020 I was lifeguarding at my local leisure centre when we were told we would be off work for ‘a few weeks’. Little did we know what was coming.
11th March 2020, WHO declares Covid-19 a pandemic. I remember the commotion around the number of people who had travelled to Italy, a hotspot at the time, for the Scotland vs Italy rugby game. If memory serves me right, that and a Nike conference in Edinburgh were the starting points of the Covid-19 pandemic really hitting Scotland.
I was a casual worker at the leisure centre and so was concerned how I would make any money at all. My first thought was, who needs most help? The NHS. I applied for several jobs and before long I was in a ward feeding, washing, drying, clothing, and supporting patients. It’s fair to say it was a bit of a shock to the system. There was nobody from the outside world allowed into the hospital. ID, and temperature check at the front door before finding my way to the ward. Passing by a sign that read “COVID-19 FULL PPE MUST BE WORN BEYOND THIS POINT”. It felt, simultaneously like Armageddon and a dream. Caught between “this can’t really be happening” and “this has gone from 0 to 100 at lightning speed”. It’s come a long way from someone eating bat soup, anyway.
Regardless, I eventually found my feet in the role, that December, in vaccine centres where we would see upwards of 5,000 people per day to administer their vaccine. It’s funny how these things work, at first there was a general apprehension to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, “Oh is it that German one?” I heard at one point, “I’ll wait for the British one to come out, thanks”. Then the news broke about blood clots due to the AstraZeneca and attitudes did a swift 180. If my memory serves me correctly, this was the first time that current affairs and news articles were happening right in front of me. This may prove invaluable experience for the future, who knows. Perhaps the awful images from 9/11 are my first recollection of disaster, but at 4 years old you’re not so conscious, just left with vague memories. I guess in some way this highlights the privileged life that I’ve lived, even coming from an area which had life an average average life expectancy of 54 less than 2 decades ago.
I began by helping patients into their bays, as many were over 85 and had travelled a significant distance to get there and in challenging weather conditions too. I then began to work in vaccine management, storing the vaccines and transporting vaccines. Before taking my turn administering the vaccines myself. Almost, if not, every day I would hear updates from the Scottish government guided by WHO. Probably, quite naïve of me, but again I’m fairly certain this was my first time I had consciously considered WHO and their guidance. A position of privilege? Likely so. I made it to 23 without having faced difficulties than people in many parts of the world were so accustomed to.
We, in the UK, and in my experience, Scotland are so privileged to have the access to innovative medicines like the covid-19 vaccines but we must also acknowledge that we are privileged enough to have the access to information for us to make up our own minds. I note that, for some people, it felt like they were being coerced into taking the vaccine even if the government weren’t explicitly saying it. Working in this environment sparked several questions in my head.
Here are a few.
WHO can do what to better information and up take of vaccination?
I have been playing with the idea that it’s a wider issue of the relationship governments have with its people. Seeing growing distrust in Westminster over the last decade under Conservative party rule hasn’t helped the position that the UK found itself in when encouraging vaccination uptake. Revelations over the last few weeks have proved many people right to not trust Westminster. Among the developed world the UK has among the lowest vaccine uptake.
What can WHO do to ensure a fairer distribution of vaccines in the future?
- Strong leadership engagement and a commitment to vaccination plans.
- Build and maintain momentum.
- Healthcare system capacity must be strengthened.
- Take off restrictions on imports and exports of vaccines.
- Work closer with pharmaceutical companies to understand timelines and supply.
WHO is taking what the following approach to vaccinations:
- Countries should work towards 70% vaccination rate.
- 100% health workers.
- 100% of vulnerable groups, over 60’s and immunocompromised.
The 2021 strategy was to:
- Minimise deaths, severe disease, and overall disease burden.
- Curtail the impact on health systems.
- Fully resume socio-economic activity.
- Reduce transmission through vaccinations.
WHO faced difficulties in regard to vaccinations?
- At-risk populations unvaccinated in many countries, led to unnecessary deaths and suffering with ethical and socio-economic consequences.
- Estimated 600,000 deaths could have been averted globally if all countries had reached 40% primary series vaccination coverage by the end of 2021,
- Could’ve been achieved with equal vaccine distribution.
- The cost of procurement. Getting it to its destination, storage, enough trained staff to administer, cost of training staff.
Many people felt that the pressure to take the vaccine was taking away their individual liberties. One prominent figure to declare this was Novak Djokovic, who, summed up some of the worries that many who opposed the vaccine felt during an interview with the BBC. The case of Djokovic was at its most prominent, around the time of the Australian Open of January 2022 when it was reported worldwide.
Questions I am still finding answers for:
How should I feel knowing that it was so easy to access vaccines when so many were not able to do so?
What more than, advise, can I do for people to engage more in conversations about future pandemics and resolutions?
How can further pandemics be avoided in the future? Or how can we at least be more prepared for future pandemics knowing they will soon become common place?