Anthony Fauci, America's top infectious disease expert, has been something of a cult hero during the coronavirus pandemic. So far he has even been viewed as unsackable by President Donald Trump.
But even heroes have off days. Dr Fauci last week carped about the British announcement that it has approved the vaccine produced by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, and that the first doses would be handed out as early as next week.
His suggestion that the UK had cut corners to beat the world to roll out the vaccine was immediately damaging. A tsunami of disinformation has been unleashed surrounding the Covid-19 vaccines. Anything that gives grist to the mill of conspiracists is bound to be damaging.
Dr Fauci is a rare character: a specialist expert who is known around the world. Quoting him knocking the vaccine will fuel the social media disinformation onslaught. The good doctor soon backtracked, explaining that he had reacted badly to the triumphalist tone of a British interviewer. He then vouched for the British regulator.
It is important to note that different national bodies deal with the approval process in their own way and the US is looking at a mid-December approval of the Pfizer application. Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency is due to make its decision on December 29.
All this provides an insight with regard to the fraught nature of the race to deploy vaccines. Once the medicine is ready, countries can move to break the cycle of lockdowns and restrictions that constrain daily social and economic life. Cyprus announced it would be first country to end the quarantine for those who have been vaccinated. Big business will flow from the provision of secure vaccine passports in 2021.
For all that, the concept of the vaccine race is deeply flawed. We won't know until January or February, at the earliest, how well the campaign is working. Even if "race" is a valid term, there remains a daunting series of challenges ahead – for those countries with the vaccine and those further down the line.
The world passed the grim milestone of 1.5 million global coronavirus deaths on Thursday, putting into stark relief the joy of those nations that plan to deliver the vaccines. Since November 23, more than 10,000 worldwide have died every day – the longest sustained period of fatalities at that level.
Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organisation's emergencies programme, has attempted to temper expectations. Reuters
Mike Ryan, the World Health Organisation official who has steadily dispensed medical wisdom throughout 2020, declared bluntly on Friday that a vaccine will not mean zero Covid-19 in circulation. "By themselves, they will not do the job," he said. "And therefore we have to add vaccines into an existing public health strategy."
London’s breakthrough has unleashed great hopes but politicians have exhibited an unsavoury one-upmanship. Germany has built vast deep-freeze warehouses that will store batches of the vaccine before they are transported to Britain. For its part, the European Medicines Agency seems extraordinarily bureaucratic in waiting for a regular scheduled meeting at the end of the month before it authorises a vaccine.
But while Britain is getting the first supplies, it remains to be seen if it can really get the vaccine to the public. A network of more than 50,000 people with basic medical skills will be needed to administer the doses. There is scant evidence that this has been built.
A training session in the Covid-19 Vaccination Clinic at the University Hospital in Coventry, central England last week. A network of more than 50,000 people with basic medical skills will be needed to administer the doses. AFP
It was noticeable that the Germans are quietly building this distribution system ahead of the vaccine approval decision.
A major analysis published last week from the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, assessed the impact of global vaccine distribution for 10 major economies, including the UAE. It said that funding for the Gavi Alliance's global distribution mechanism, known as the Covax-Advance Market Commitment, was vital. It aims to get vaccines delivered to 92 low-income countries through its own facility.
The Eurasia report said the economic boost for the UAE alone in 2021-22 would amount to $18.1 billion and add up to a cumulatively $69.7bn boost over five years. The 10 rich countries, as a whole, would gain almost half a billion dollars from getting the economy moving again.
French President Emmanuel Macron gave a very strong endorsement of a global push to roll out the vaccine at a UN symposium last week. Reuters
The vaccine is no doubt a great achievement of 2020, but the history of the recovery is being written even as the suffering escalates
President Emmanuel Macron of France gave a very strong endorsement of a global push to roll out the vaccine at a UN symposium last week. It is worth quoting his words at length.
“These doses, whether they come from Europe, China, Russia or the United States, whether they are the fruit of donations from states or pharmaceutical companies, would thus be allocated effectively and fairly, on the basis of WHO recommendations,” Mr Macron said.
Getting to this point within a calendar year of the new virus being detected is a landmark achievement in the history of humanity. In countries where faith in the medical profession is high, vaccine rates can still be expected to be high.
However, the pitfalls ahead are myriad. The vaccine is no doubt a great achievement of 2020, but the history of the recovery is being written even as the suffering escalates. Delivering it is not just a managerial challenge. It is a task that requires strategic wisdom and careful messaging to get everybody onboard.
Damien McElroy is the London bureau chief of The National
EPL's youngest
Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal) 15 years, 181 days old
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32 Wins: 28 Wins by KO: 26 Losses: 4
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024. It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine. Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages]. The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts. With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians. Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved. Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world. The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993 Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE Marital Status: Single School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University Job Title: Pilot, First Officer Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200 Number of flights: Approximately 300 Hobbies: Exercising Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
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The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
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