OPINION: Global game plan needed to fight the global covid-19 pandemic

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Thu, 2021-12-16 03:02 — mike kraft

To Fight the Global Covid-19 Pandemic, We Need a Global Game Plan The U.S. makes a huge mistake if it thinks its fate can be walled off from the rest of the world Larry Brilliant WSJ

For many months in 2020, Covid-19 was the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. And deaths this year have already surpassed last year.

Americans tend to see this pandemic through the lens of American losses. But neither the original virus nor the five Greek-lettered variants of concern began in the U.S. Wherever the next more-infectious variants begin, they will inevitably circle the globe.

That’s why if we fail to treat this as a global battle, and succeed only in pushing the virus to the most remote corners of the world, it will propagate, mutate and spin off more-transmissible variants. And we will suffer each time the next improved variant pingpongs back, holding us hostage to a new set of mutated viral genes wrapped in a sack of fat.

So, as we begin the third year of this pandemic, we may be exhausted. But the virus is tireless. ..

As somebody who was deeply involved in the World Health Organization’s effort to eradicate smallpox, I believe there is still time to quiet the pandemic, but only if America returns to our traditional leadership role in global health, and recognizes that we won’t be successful working alone.

Here are four points that I believe should guide policy makers. ...

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