Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters Covid-19: a disaster five years in the making

Broader approaches are necessary for containing pandemics like covid-19

BMJ 2021; 374 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2107 (Published 01 September 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;374:n2107
  1. Alok Bhargava, professor of public policy
  1. University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
  1. bhargava{at}umd.edu

Hotez rightly emphasises the importance of scientific approaches for stemming the covid-19 pandemic through policies such as mass vaccinations, social distancing, and avoidance of political meddling.1 But the analysis could have fleshed out the complex interactions between scientific, socioeconomic, and demographic variables for the formulation of evidence based policies. Although it seems reasonable to mention a possible Russian misinformation campaign concerning SARS-CoV-2, it is odd to omit the unhelpful role of the Chinese government in delaying the information that could provide insights into the phylogeny of the virus. This is especially important in view of the unsubstantiated claim by Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease …

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