According to leading experts, 2022 will be a year marked by vaccinations and booster shots.
The director-general of the International Vaccine Institute, an independent non-profit organization devoted to research on vaccines for poor countries, Jerome Kim said, “2022 will be the year of vaccination — either primarily for people who haven’t been vaccinated or booster vaccinations for those of us who have.”
Hopefully, it will also mark the year when anti-Covid drugs will come to the fore, and make treatment more effective, Kim told CNBC on Monday.
Although 2021 was mainly a year of vaccine development, covid pills were also developed by drugmakers, Pfizer and Merck.
Recall that, the U.S. FDA in December, authorized two antiviral pills to treat Covid-19 for emergency use.
The first oral antiviral drug to be cleared for emergency use in the U.S was Pfizer’s Covid oral treatment pill, called Paxlovid.
The other oral treatment pill was Molnupiravir which was Merck’s antiviral pill, approved for use in adults with mild to moderate Covid at risk of severe disease.
With the advent of a more-transmissible Omicron variant, cases around the world have surged in recent times, hence, according to Jerome Kim, the most important priority in 2022 is getting vaccines to people who need them, especially to those in poorer countries with limited access to vaccines.
The expert said, “A really critical point to make — omicron is not the omega and we are going to see additional mutants and variants of concern, and hopefully we become more equitable in the use of vaccines.”
“Increasing the supply [of vaccines] will not be the issue. The issue will be: Who can get that vaccine into the arms of people who need vaccination. That’s going to be the key for 2022, it is getting people vaccinated,” he added, stating that a significant number of people in low-income countries have not received a single vaccine dose.
