Friday, June 18, 2021

Opinion Canada must step up to share more vaccines with the developing world
Dr. Ivar Mendez 

The COVID-19 pandemic has killed close to four million people and infected more than 177 million worldwide.
© Provided by Leader Post SASKATOON,SK--NOVEMBER 21/2019-9999 news Ivar Mendez Decade- Doctor Ivar Mendez, who works in remote medicine/robotics/neurosurgery, at his office in the Health Sciences Building on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon, SK on Thursday, November 21, 2019.

Successful vaccination strategies are substantially decreasing the number of COVID-19 infections and mortality rates in high-income countries while low-resourced countries are suffering the onslaught of the third wave with soaring deaths and infections.


I have recently returned from a humanitarian mission in Bolivia, the place where I was born, and have seen firsthand the devastating effects of COVID in a low-resourced setting. As cases increased, the country first ran out of ICU beds and then regular hospital beds. We implemented a program of virtual care where patients are taken care of at home by their relatives who communicate with their physicians with cellphones. We distributed portable oxygen concentrators, digital pulse oximeters, stethoscopes and thermometers that connect with regular cellphones. Using these simple devices, the COVID doctors can effectively monitor patients in their homes and instruct their family members in their care. The many years of experience of implementing virtual care in Saskatchewan using robotic technologies were invaluable to my work in Bolivia. Although this COVID virtual care program has saved many lives, the overall situation in Bolivia as it confronts the third wave is dire.

The COVID mortality rate in Canada is 681 in one million, while in Bolivia the rate is twice that, with over 1,300 deaths per million. Canada has tested 935,000 people per million population;, in Bolivia the rate is 136,000 per million. To date, more than 60 per cent of the population of Canada has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine; only 12 per cent of Bolivia’s population has received their first dose. It is estimated that more than 250 physicians have died from COVID in Bolivia, which has a population of 11 million.
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These statistics illustrate a significant gap in tackling the pandemic globally. COVID-19 is a global event that requires a global approach and solution. The sharing of vaccines worldwide is crucial in confronting the pandemic. As transmission rates skyrocket in unvaccinated populations, the unchecked virus has a greater chance of mutating and developing variants that can challenge the effectiveness of current vaccines. Sharing vaccines is in our best interest as it will protect us from new variants and help end the pandemic sooner. An uncontrolled pandemic wreaks havoc on the economies of the world and affects everybody. It has been shown that for every dollar spent in helping poor countries defeat the pandemic, high-income countries get $4.80 as a result of boosting the global economy.

The G7 countries have purchased about 35 per cent of all the approved vaccines while they only make up 13 per cent of the global population. They have more than a billion doses extra than what is required to fully vaccinate their population. The time to share these vaccines with vulnerable populations around the world is now. There is still a huge gap in the vaccination of health-care workers and the elderly in the developing world. It is estimated that 11 billion doses are needed in the developing world to vaccinate 70 per cent of the population.

Sharing vaccines should be done in sufficient and predictable volumes and concurrently with the rollout of vaccine programs by high-resource countries. This will ensure equity and maximum impact on controlling the pandemic and the surge of COVID variants. Canada must be a leader in sharing vaccines with poor countries as it has ordered 252.9 million doses, enough to vaccinate every Canadian three times over. It is a moral imperative to share vaccines with the less fortunate, and with COVID-19, no one is safe until everybody is safe.

Dr. Ivar Mendez is the provincial head of surgery for the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

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