22 For 2022: Of omicron and unicorns

That memorable line from the poster of the sequel to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws—about a killer shark that runs amok on a beach community—may well sum up 2021 and how it’s winding down. If 2020 was Jaws, 2021 would be Jaws 2. After all, it was in 2020 that the Covid-19 virus unleashed its first round of devastation on India. Then came the even more destructive second wave in 2021. And just when you thought the shark had been tamed comes another variant that’s said to be more transmissible than its predecessor, albeit, less deadly. As we enter 2022, few know how this one’s to end.

Jaws was followed by three sequels, each one worse than the other; and one hopes that the latest Covid variant proves as damp a squib as Jaws: The Revenge—the fourth and final in the tetralogy of killer shark movies before Hollywood reckoned that enough is enough.

The emergence of the Omicron variant makes it crystal clear that mutations of the Covid-19 virus are here to stay for at least the next few years. How do we deal with it?

The answer lies in one of the 22 essays Forbes India has put together in this special collector’s edition for 2022—a year that may have little ‘new’ in it as far as the pandemic goes. Dr GVS Murthy, director of the Indian Institute of Public Health-Hyderabad, writes in the piece headlined ‘Vaccination Plan Needs A Boost’ on page 72: “It is likely that towards the later part of 2022, Covid-19 may establish itself as an endemic disease in India (present continuously at low intensity), but mutations will keep occurring like with influenza…”

What does this call for, from a policy perspective? A systems approach to strengthen public health services. “A dedicated workforce skilled in public health is needed at all levels, starting from the primary health level to the policy level at the central government,” writes Dr Murthy.