Health Affairs October 12, 2021
“Build back better,” we cried, just a couple of months into the pandemic, urgently seeking a silver lining amid the unfolding horror. Yet, aside from small, localised efforts, there are few signs that governments intend to capitalise on this opportunity, and the phrase is already beginning to take on a hollow, cynical ring.
On one thing, most of us can agree. Future pandemics are almost guaranteed. But what if such pandemics are a clarion call to action, a warning that our continued co-existence on this planet is under threat if we do not take radical action?
The pandemic has been met not only with the ugliness of vaccine apartheid but with a seeming failure to learn from the lessons of...