Sars-CoV-2 continues to circulate among us. Even as progress has been made in some countries, a new study finds that extra effort and resources are still needed to save lives, around the world. Despite remarkable scientific and medical advances, the global response to Covid-19 has been hampered by broader political, social and behavioral factors such as misinformation, vaccination hesitance, patchy global coordination and uneven distribution of equipment, vaccines and treatments, the report said scientific work.
‘Each country has responded differently and often inadequately, in part due to a serious lack of coordination and clear goals,’ says Professor Jeffrey V. Lazarus, coordinator of the study.
Delphi study
To build a global consensus on how to address these issues in the future, Lazarus and colleagues conducted a Delphi study. A proven research method that challenges experts to reach consensus on answers to complex research questions. A multidisciplinary panel of 386 experts from academia, healthcare, nongovernmental organizations, government and others from 112 countries and territories participated in three rounds of structured consultations. The result is 41 statements and 57 recommendations on six main areas: communication, health systems, vaccination, prevention, treatment and care, and inequalities.
Three of the highest rated recommendations are:
1.) a whole-of-society strategy involving multiple disciplines, sectors and actors to avoid fragmented efforts
2.) Government-wide approaches (e.g. coordination between departments) to identify and review the resilience of health systems and make them more responsive to people’s needs
3.) Maintaining a Vaccine Plus approach, which includes structural and behavioral preventive measures, treatment and financial support measures in addition to vaccination
Panelists also made recommendations for developing technologies (vaccines, therapies and services) that can reach target groups. Other recommendations, with which at least 99 percent of respondents agreed, related to communicating effectively with the public, restoring public trust and engaging communities in the response to the pandemic.
Only six recommendations met with more than 5 percent disagreement, including a recommendation to provide more economic incentives to overcome vaccination hesitation.
Implementation in months instead of years
The 41 consensus statements and 57 recommendations in the six categories of communication, health systems, vaccination, prevention, treatment and care, and pandemic inequalities are aimed less at the populations of the countries and more at governments, health systems, industry and other important actors. The authors say that many of the recommendations can be implemented very quickly if the will is there. “Our findings largely focus on health and social policy recommendations that can be implemented in months, not years, to put an end to this public health threat,” says Quique Bassat of the University of Barcelona, co-author of the study.