First word

THE big story this week is that the United States, once tagged as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, is on the brink of beating the pandemic at home.

In much the same way that it led the world in developing in record time effective and safe vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, America will now likely pace mankind's full surmounting of the pandemic.

Various media outlets joined together in reporting this turn of events. Agence-France Presse reported:

'Covid-19 cases are declining quickly while vaccinations continue to rise slowly but surely in the United States, the former epicenter of the pandemic.

'Many experts believe the time will soon be right for the federal government to ease its recommendations on indoor masking across the board and say doing so could help encourage more vaccine holdouts about the clear benefits of getting their shots.

'The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already says masks aren't needed outdoors for vaccinated people unless it's crowded, nor indoors when inoculated individuals gather in small groups with others who are immunized.

'President Joe Biden, who has set a target of vaccinating 70 percent of adults with at least one dose by July 4, told a meeting of state governors on Tuesday that further loosening measures are to 'come soon.'

'Right now, the vaccination figure is around 59 percent of adults with at least one dose, while the country is reporting around 38,000 daily new cases - a per capita rate of 11 new cases per 100,000 people, well below global hotspots and falling fast.'

The Washington Examiner reported that US companies have begun plotting a return to in-office work. It said: 'As people continue to venture from their homes and get vaccinated, companies are eyeing when and how to return to the office. Some are planning to return in the coming months.'

Best of all, the New Yorker magazine published an incisive and synoptic article that tells the story of this remarkable achievement in the formidable struggle against the pandemic. Philippine officials might know better what it will take to beat the pandemic here at home, if they take time to read the New Yorker article, titled 'The beginning of the end of the American pandemic.'

American pandemic

The New Yorker article, written by Dhrub Khullar, was published on May 25, 2021. I want to present here a brief summary of Mr. Kullar's main points, along with some passages from it. He opens his article as follows:

'The story of the American pandemic has unfolded in three chapters. The first began last January, when the coronavirus emerged and the world was plunged into uncertainty about how Covid-19 could be treated, how the virus spread, and when it might be defeated. The second started on the morning of Nov. 9, 2020, when Pfizer-BioNTech announced the extraordinary efficacy of its vaccine. Those results made clear that this pandemic would end not through infection but vaccination. Our goals shifted from merely slowing the spread to beginning immunization as quickly as possible. In America, much of the past half year has been devoted to administering vaccines and gathering evidence on how well they work in the real world.

'Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ushered in the American pandemic's third chapter. The agency announced that vaccinated people could go without masks or social distancing indoors and outside, in crowds large and small. It carved out a few exceptions-for hospitals, public transportation, and the like - and noted that people still needed to obey federal and local laws. But the broad message was that vaccinated Americans could resume their pre-pandemic lives. The CDC is an agency known for caution, and its new guidance shocked many public-health experts; just two weeks earlier, it had issued far more restrictive recommendations. During the same period, a survey of nearly 600 epidemiologists found that more than three-quarters of them believed that indoor mask-wearing might remain necessary for another year or more. Still, immediately after the announcement, a number of states lifted their mask mandates. Others will surely follow, as the pressure to return to normal grows. America is now moving swiftly toward reopening.

'Despite the CDC's early stumbles on communication, masks, and tests, it remains perhaps the world's preeminent public health agency. Its recommendations carry unparalleled scientific force in the US and beyond....

Three questions

'Ultimately, the CDC's decision reflects real shifts in the weight of the evidence on several fundamental epidemiological questions: Are the vaccines as effective as they were in the trials? Can they protect us against the coronavirus variants? And do they prevent not just illness but transmission? The answers to these questions give us good reason to think that the pandemic's newest chapter will be its last.

'1. On the first question, the nationwide rollout of Covid-19 vaccines has proved, beyond any doubt, that they are astonishingly effective at preventing serious illness, even for the most vulnerable people. So-called breakthrough infections, in which the virus weaves its way around some of an individual's immune system, do occur. But such infections are extremely rare, and - because a person almost always has some effective antibodies and other immune system defenses - they usually cause mild or no symptoms. In one study, the CDC examined post-vaccination infections among nearly 15,000 nursing home residents and staff members and discovered only two Covid-19 hospitalizations and one death. Another study, involving half a million health care workers from around the country, found that getting two shots reduced the risk of a symptomatic infection by 94 percent. Moving forward, we should expect to continue seeing breakthrough infections from time to time - but, for the most part, we shouldn't worry about them. (At the same time, the Covid vaccines have proven exceptionally safe. Few dangerous side effects have been linked to the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, and the overall risk of concerning blood clots after receiving Johnson & Johnson's vaccine is rare - as of last week, when more than 9 million doses had been administered, there were 30 confirmed cases.)

'2. The answer to the second question - whether the vaccines work against the major coronavirus variants - is also now clear. Earlier this month, a study conducted in Qatar, where the B117 and B1351 variants predominate, found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 97 percent effective at preventing severe disease. Vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson also appear to be highly effective against the variants; in fact, these vaccines are already successfully fighting them here in the United States.

'3. As for the final question - whether vaccinated people can spread the virus to others, especially unvaccinated people, including children - the evidence is similarly encouraging. Because vaccinated people are unlikely to contract the virus, the vast majority won't be passing it on. And even the small number of vaccinated people who experience breakthrough infections have much less of the virus circulating in their bodies, and may be less infectious...

'The CDC issues guidance, not laws; there are several quantitative measures that states, counties, cities, companies and individuals can consult in pacing their reopening and squaring the agency's broad recommendations with local realities. A community's immunization rate is perhaps the most obvious statistic to track. Experts have argued for meeting a 70 percent immunity threshold before relaxing masking and distancing requirements. No states have got there yet, although some, such as Vermont and Maine, are well on their way.'

Covid response with no accountability

In contrast to this remarkable feat of public health management, Philippine performance in fighting the pandemic is an embarrassing mess.

The biggest drawback is the fact that the country does not have a center for disease control and prevention to serve as the central public health agency. The government has resorted to the designation of an inter-agency task force for infectious disease control, which president Duterte filled up with former military men and bureaucrats, while forgetting to name epidemiologists or virologists to the body. We rely principally on the Department of Health to do the heavy lifting.

The ad hoc setup has produced a bizarre situation wherein some factotums have resorted to appointing themselves and appropriating lofty titles, like 'czar' of this or that. Not being properly appointed to defined tasks or duties, these characters are not accountable for mistakes during the pandemic.

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