The epidemiologist Amós García Rojas, one of the reference experts during the management of the covid-19 pandemic, warns that avian flu "may have something to do" with a next epidemic, which is why he asks not to separate animal and environmental health from human health.
The author of the mantra 'Calm and patience: +Prudence', which he used on social media to try to alleviate concerns for many people during the lockdown and for which he was also very "insulted" by "science deniers", will present again in a few days his 'Chronicles of the Pandemic', a novel with which he has fulfilled one of the challenges he set for himself after retiring at 70 years old.
With two almost sold-out paper editions, the Canarian doctor explains in an interview with EFE that he has tried to capture in this book "the adventures and misadventures of an epidemiologist in a health situation as tremendously complicated as the covid-19 pandemic was," partly because, in his opinion, "the drama was forgotten too soon."
The former representative of Spain on the WHO Standing Committee for Europe warns the reader that "any resemblance to reality is not always mere coincidence," since some of the things told by its protagonist, the epidemiologist Jaime García, are part of his imagination, but most respond to real events that occurred during the epidemic that emerged on January 31, 2020, in La Gomera and led, on February 24 of that same year, to order the first lockdown in a hotel in Tenerife.
García believes that the need to forget as soon as possible everything experienced during the lockdown has made many people stop understanding that there are certain practices learned with covid-19 that should continue to be part of our culture, such as the use of the mask in certain situations, since "it continues to be a powerful instrument in science and also an instrument of solidarity towards the most vulnerable".
It also regrets that a sector of the population has stopped vaccinating against covid-19, which it relates to what it believes was a mistake: instead of talking about a fourth or fifth dose, it should have been said booster dose, as is done with other vaccines for which there is not so much rejection, such as the flu vaccine.
Amós García advocates for the recovery of that vaccination schedule although covid-19 "has lost that dramatic, terrible and frightful face it had during the pandemic", as it continues to be an important health problem for vulnerable sectors of the citizenry, who must be vaccinated every year.
Defend science against unconsciousness
Asked about the work the anti-vaccine movement has done in this regard, the former president of the Spanish Association of Vaccinology believes that it is part of a "denialism that is part of the global scenario: there is a denialism of climate change and there is a denialism of vaccines that, in reality, is of science because science and knowledge make certain sectors uncomfortable."
Therefore, another of the things he does in his novel is "defend science against unconsciousness, knowledge against disorientation, scientific evidence against esoteric evidence", and he trusts that "hopefully it will serve for that" in view of a next pandemic, which will arrive, "undoubtedly", because "the elements that made possible the appearance" of covid-19 are still present.
Thus, it warns that climate change "completely modifies the ecology of living beings and microorganisms", which is why "it has a primordial role in the possible future appearance of a pandemic", to which is added poverty and "the increasingly terrible and despairing difference between rich countries and poor countries".
Another element that he considers "that is not fully understood is that human health cannot be seen outside the scope of animal health and environmental health. We forget what the WHO calls 'One Health', one health, and that covid was an animal disease that passed to humans, as happened with ebola, they are zoonotic diseases," he adds.
Amós García believes that although much has been learned in Spain with the covid-19 pandemic, "the public health structure of the healthcare system, transferred to the autonomous communities, remains weakened", as it already was before, due to the "cuts" it suffered starting from the 2008 economic crisis.
In addition to the impact caused by the thousand deaths in one day due to covid-19 that were registered in Spain, Amós García will also not forget "how they were left to their fate, without transferring them to hospitals, many elderly people in the residences".
A die-hard rocker, he did not hesitate to put a soundtrack to each phase of the pandemic, a musical journey that helped him write his novel and that began with 'The long and winding road' ('The long and winding road'), by The Beatles, continued with 'Highway to hell' ('Highway to hell'), by AC/DC, and culminated, with the arrival of vaccines, with 'Stairway to heaven' ('Stairway to heaven'), by Led Zeppelin.
The threat of an increasingly unequal world
García is concerned about "the drums of war that sound too much in several countries" and the massive movements that they are going to produce and that will generate more imbalances that will impact the health of the citizenry.
observes with great concern the movements that the Government of the United States is making regarding vaccines and that "give wings" to those who deny science in a context in which poverty grows and, with it, social inequality.
"In a world that is already sufficiently unequal, that Donald Trump is going to withdraw the funding that the United States gives to the WHO will mean that many developing countries will not be able to develop the intervention programs" that the UN body has designed for them, which will bring very serious problems," he warns.
Amós García sees in this way of acting a "myopic attitude, since serious problems will not only fall on developing countries, but will rebound on us."