US sustains vaccination efforts in lethal shadow of COVID-19

STICK TO VACCINATION

On Wednesday in an interview at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Bill Gates, the US billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder, listed the two key steps that he thought to help conquer COVID-19: continue to vaccinate the rest of the world, and use up-and-coming antiviral drugs to prevent severe disease and death.

For Gates, ending the pandemic doesn't mean eradicating COVID-19 completely. Rather, "we'll be able to bring it down to very small numbers by the end of 2022." That target remains realistic, given advancements in vaccines and antiviral drugs. For starters, "the vaccines are very good news," Gates said.

In lower-income countries, access and demand for vaccines are both low. Gates predicted that access could improve by next year, as "supply constraints will be largely solved." Demand, however, could be trickier to encourage, especially in places "where the epidemic hasn't been as visible," like sub-Saharan African countries, he said.

As for the antiviral drugs, Gates called them "pretty impressive," despite the fact that none of them have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drugs, if approved, could drastically lower the number of people hospitalized and severely ill from COVID-19. Antiviral COVID-19 pill makers Merck and Pfizer both submitted data to the FDA for clearance.

Earlier this week, another noticeable vaccination news was that, with less than one month until the US Army's deadline to vaccinate its active-duty force, the service will begin barring soldiers who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19 without an exemption from reenlistment, promotions, and other "favorable personnel actions."

In a memo dated Nov 16, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said soldiers who refuse the vaccine would be "flagged," preventing them from "reenlistment, reassignment, promotion, appearance before a semi-centralized promotion board, issuance of awards and decorations" and more.

The Navy and the Marine Corps issued similar guidance last month, paving the way for the discharge of service members who refuse to be vaccinated. Soldiers who have received an exemption or whose exemption request is pending will not be flagged.

The US Army's deadline for all active-duty military members to get vaccinated is Dec. 15 while National Guard soldiers are required to be vaccinated by June 30, 2022. Soldiers, including Reserve and Guard, can be flagged even before these deadlines for refusing the vaccine.