Getting Ahead of the Virus

The world has recorded more than two million deaths from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and is approaching one hundred million confirmed cases (1) Both numbers are underestimates of the true toll of the pandemic Many countries in the Northern Hemisphere are in the grip of a large winter wave and have reintroduced lockdowns and intensified other nonpharmaceutical interventions to reduce stress on fragile healthcare systems Vaccination campaigns have begun in a growing number of countries, but supplies remain scarce And new variants of COVID-19 virus, which appear to increase its transmissibility and perhaps confer resistance to available countermeasures, have been documented in dozens of countries This is the state of the pandemic in late January 2021 We now have tools with the potential to bring the pandemic to an end, but the pandemic itself is slippery and continues to evolve Just when we thought the end was in sight, we now face the prospect of new, more intense epidemics In most countries, the response in 2020 trailed behind the pandemic What can we do, in 2021, as a global community to get ahead of the virus? With respect to the vaccines, our most important tool, four things can be done, principally