As it happened in 2021: Health industry see-sawed through vaccines and variants 

The COVID-19 pandemic eclipsed everything else in 2021. After a slow recovery in the first few months of the year, the pandemic came back again, even more intensely around mid-2021. Again, the country was unprepared, health infrastructure was frail, and people grappled for oxygen. Hospitals were flooded with patients, the health ecosystem collapsed, and there was chaos and uncertainty during the peak of the second wave.

However, the government’s vaccination drive, which started on a pale note in January 2021, gradually picked up momentum to build up a robust vaccination architecture. As of December 28, till 8 am, over 142 crore doses were administered.

In the last week of October, India had achieved a significant milestone as cumulative vaccinations crossed the 100-crore mark. After China administered more than 200 crore doses, India is only the second country to have reached the landmark.

The pandemic eased a bit after June, and the cases plummeted. But in November, the emergence of a new variant Omicron has again brought back the focus on an impending third wave, night curfew and a partial lockdown. Since then, the Covid cases have been constantly surging.

In a significant move on December 28, India granted an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) to Serum Institute of India’s Covovax, Biological E’s Corbevax and antiviral Covid-19 pill Molnupiravir. As a result, the antiviral drug will be manufactured in the country by 13 companies for restricted use under emergencies to treat adult patients with COVID-19 and who have a high risk of disease progression.

With this nod, the number of Covid vaccines which have received emergency use authorisation is now eight. Six Covid-19 vaccines—Serum Institute’s Covishield, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D, Russia’s Sputnik V, US-made Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson’s—had already received EUA from the Indian drug regulator earlier.

January 2022 will see third dose protection commencing for sections of the population at high risk of exposure (frontline health workers) or high risk of severe illness (elderly individuals with co-morbidities). Vaccination will also commence for children in the 15–18-year age group from January 3. In addition, India will scale up vaccine development and manufacture for domestic and global use.

While Covid dominated the health terrain, the world has seen some positive news in the health and medical field in 2021.

This year, the World Health Organisation endorsed the first-ever malaria vaccine, the protein-based RTS,S/AS01. After decades of research done by scientists, this four-dose vaccine was a major health milestone.

Till October, more than 2.3 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in 3 African countries, and the vaccine has been found to have a favourable safety profile. Other significant achievements relating to immunization include the introduction of the Ebola vaccine and the launch of a global plan to tackle meningitis.

In 2021, marking the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, WHO launched a Global Diabetes Compact in April to speed up action on the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Efforts to increase access to life-saving diabetes medicines are just one of its workstreams.

The Compact is bringing together national governments, UN organisations, nongovernmental organisations, private sector entities, academic institutions, philanthropic foundations, people living with diabetes and international donors to work towards a world where all people at risk for diabetes or living with diabetes can access the care they need.

Covid-19 has given birth to another concerning pandemic that of mental disorders. There was a steep rise in cases of depression and anxiety issues, especially among children and the elders, as they felt lonely and suffered from mood swings, irritation, anxiety, and depression.

Psychiatrist Dr Debanjan Banerjee says: “The pandemic has germinated the seeds of another dangerous epidemic – mental health. The misinformation epidemic has also triggered a lot of stress. While new cases of severe depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress have surfaced, there have been bigger challenges for those with already existing mental symptoms.”

Even for those who had dementia, the pandemic has been devastating. Loss of jobs, distancing from family have caused severe mental issues. The Work from Home has also triggered depression and anxiety.

The pandemic has had a detrimental effect on the treatment of various non-Covid diseases requiring close monitoring.

Cancer diagnosis and treatment, for example, was severely disrupted in around half of all countries. Over a million people have missed out on essential tuberculosis care; widening inequalities prevented those in poorer countries from accessing AIDS services; and reproductive services were upended for millions of women.

UN agencies believe in South Asia alone, severe disruptions in health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in an additional 239,000 child and maternal deaths in 2021. Over half of the countries, the WHO surveyed between June-October 2021 reported disruptions to services for diabetes, cancer screening and treatment, and hypertension management.

In an attempt to support the most vulnerable, the WHO spearheaded the COVAX initiative to fight COVID-19. Funded by richer countries and private donors, WHO has raised over $2 billion to ensure people living in poorer countries would not be left out when vaccines were launched.