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Summary
- COVID-19 pandemic has been the defining global health crisis, changing the way people live, work and learn, taking all their freedom away, and making them dependent on digital mediums.
- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has stated that in the best-case scenario, if an effective vaccine is launched and distributed adequately, rich countries could go back to almost normal by late-2021.
- Leading promising vaccine candidates are by Pfizer and Moderna, using the new technology mRNA to create an immune response to the virus.
- The world is watching for the voting outcome of the US presidential election on 3 November 2020.
Amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, many have become habitual of the new ways of living. Number of people have been working from home since long, becoming dependent on digital platforms for socialising, shopping online, making payments and even attending meetings virtually. The world is learning to live digitally, and the pandemic has pushed the world towards digitalisation.
When COVID-19 first emerged at the beginning of the year, there was shock and uncertainty. Nobody knew how long it would last. Now, the world is waiting for a safe and effective vaccine or treatment, which is expected to bring things back to normal.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), currently, there are more than 100 COVID-19 vaccine candidates under development, of which several have reached the human trial stage.
To speed up the pandemic response, WHO is working with scientists, businesses, and global health organisations through the ACT Accelerator program. To protect people in all countries, once there will be a safe and effective vaccine, COVAX (led by WHO, GAVI and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) will provide the equitable access and distribution of these vaccines. COVAX will give priority to the people at maximum risk.
Things Could Get Close To Normal by Late-2021, Says Bill Gates
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has stated that rich countries could be back to close to normal by late next year, provided a coronavirus vaccine is ready, which is effective and appropriately distributed at scale. However, he maintained that this is the best possible scenario.
Mr Gates also commented on testing procedures in the United States, highlighting that, it is sad coronavirus testing is still not organised in the country to make it more available and fast to get the results.
He added that few countries could control the coronavirus outbreaks through strict lockdowns, but such stringent lockdowns would be extremely difficult to be implemented by all countries; hence, others have deployed testing to curb the virus spread. Other countries have activated the commercial sector and did excellent testing early on, but in the US, one still doesn't get quick test results, added Mr Gates.
Vaccine Race for COVID-19
Scientists and pharma companies all around the world are working at an unprecedented pace to develop an effective vaccine against COVID-19. As a standard process, vaccine development requires several years of testing and additional time to produce at scale, however, due to the critical health emergency, scientists are now trying to develop a coronavirus vaccination within a period of 12 to 18 months.
Also read: AstraZeneca Share Price Topples as FDA Widens its Inquiry on COVID-19 Vaccine
Two promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the US are by Pfizer and Moderna, respectively. Both of them are using mRNA to mount an immune response to the virus.
US Election in Unprecedented Year, 2020
The US election scenario in the pandemic stricken-year 2020, could not have got more dramatic than this. While the elections are just around the corner, Mr President himself got infected with coronavirus, and many of his staff members are contagious with the viral infection. Many questions have been raised over his disregard in following general guidelines for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rival Joe Biden has criticised Mr President for abruptly ending the talks with Democrats on an economic aid package. Mr Biden highlighted that Mr Trump is abandoning Americans during the crisis. His tweet on pulling out of the discussions came as a scary moment for the stock market, which experienced a gloomy trading session on 6 October when Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.57 per cent, Dow Industrials dropped by 1.34 per cent, and S&P 500 declined by 1.40 per cent.
Considerable Issues for the US in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has been pretty hard on the superpower with many lives lost due to the spread of the virus. The US could not handle the crisis well and experienced a spike in unemployment, which was huge in March 2020.
However, there has been some improvements in the labour market. In September 2020, total non-farm payroll employment grew by 661,000, and the unemployment rate declined to 7.9 per cent, according to data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on 2 October 2020.
Riots over the death of African-American Mr George Floyd in police custody - There was a countrywide violent protest and riots in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and LA over his death. The US had not experienced racial turbulence and civil unrest of this level since the violence in 1968 due to the killing of Martin Luther King.
The ongoing pandemic has already created a lot of uncertainty and confusion for all. Now, confusion over next leader in the US is only adding to the worries. The world is watching for the voting outcome of the US presidential election on 3 November 2020.
