{"id":113910,"date":"2020-05-25T12:38:26","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T10:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=113910"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:36:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:36:29","slug":"corona-envoy-feike-sijbesma-why-thats-the-question-that-drives-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/05\/25\/corona-envoy-feike-sijbesma-why-thats-the-question-that-drives-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Corona envoy Feike Sijbesma: \u2018Why? That’s the question that drives me’"},"content":{"rendered":"

After stepping down as top executive of the DSM chemical group, Feike Sijbesma (60) was supposed to focus on climate and hunger, among other things. This would have been his role as co-chair (together with former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon) of the Global Centre on Adaptation<\/em>, an organisation that advises countries on climate change. Sijbesma is also one of the co-initiators of Africa Improved Foods, an organisation that seeks to wipe out hunger in Africa. The corona crisis has thrown a spanner in the works.<\/p>\n

Because the government asked Sijbesma to be a special corona envoy, over the past few weeks he has been busy arranging corona tests. Not an easy job, despite being the \u2018most influential Dutch person\u2019. The former student (Sijbesma studied Microbiology in Utrecht and Business Administration in Rotterdam) advocates anchoring the lessons from the crisis firmly in the education system. \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, universities \u2013 alongside their tasks in education and research \u2013 should be more engaged in the social debate, also where this crisis is involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The two universities that you have a special connection to have discovered an antibody that may lead to a cure for Covid-19. Do you believe that we will be rid of corona within six months and, as the corona envoy, will you be making sure that we are first in line when a vaccine is released?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t judge whether this will be the treatment we are all waiting for. Apart from that, there are still lots of vaccines currently under development that I am also looking into on behalf of the cabinet, but I\u2019m not sure if they will be available within six months. We want to use the vaccines for billions of people, so they have to be extremely safe. We are not going to experiment on healthy people. Where medicine is concerned, there\u2019s another risk factor that needs weighing up, because you use it on sick people, sometimes even on very sick people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be preferable to make vaccines and medicines available to other vulnerable groups in other countries; I am also thinking of Africa. I do think that we have a moral obligation not to think just about ourselves. If we had a vaccine that was not available to all Dutch people at the same time, we would give priority to those vulnerable groups. You can also pursue that line of thinking on an international level. If the vulnerable are given priority in the Netherlands, why should that not be applicable internationally?\u201d<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on the face mask discussion of the past few weeks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we are talking about an exit from the lockdown generally means that things are going well. The question is, how can we keep it that way? In the case of face masks, it is all about the inside and the outside of the mask. The outside protects you from anyone who is infected. This is indispensable in healthcare and hospitals, for example, since doctors and nurses work with people who have corona.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inside of a face mask protects others from you if you happen to have the virus without being aware of it. Because if you are sick, you have to stay at home. By wearing a face mask, you become a socially aware person who protects your fellow human beings. Opponents criticise that the masks are not watertight. True, but they potentially block up to 50 percent of the virus and that is already a major plus point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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