Five Lessons For A Post-Pandemic World

A less unipolar, increasingly digital, accelerated world awaits us on the other side of the pandemic. But the stresses of change and increased inequalities will demand a return to international cooperation too

- Fareed Zakaria

When I wrote Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World at the height of the pandemic’s first wave in mid2020, we were living through the first phase of the Covid-19 crisis. It was a public health crisis that left governments scrambling to lock down—and the public sector, especially in the US, largely failed. That phase will soon be behind us. Vaccines for the novel coronavirus—some using innovative mRNA techniques, and developed by international teams at a breakneck pace never before seen—have begun rolling out. Therapies have cut the death rates down, and new and cheaper tests are being developed each month. We have entered the second phase of the crisis, which will be led by the dynamism, innovation, and competence of the private sector. There are still challenges of distribution and we must navigate a difficult winter. But on the horizon, a true post-pandemic world is now in sight.

The private sector has delivered, but we should not forget the indispensable role that the state played in funding vaccine research and development at “warp speed” (even if many governments have since fumbled the roll-out, administering vaccines). Only in East Asia and a scattered handful of other countries have we seen an effective public and private sector response.