Opinion: Why aren’t diseases like HIV and malaria, which still kill millions of people a year, called pandemics?
The furor about vaccine nationalism and sharing doses of Covid-19 overshadows a fundamental issue: What is an equitable definition of what counts as a pandemic? The use of that word isn’t just semantics: It’s about who we care lives or dies.
As high levels of vaccination coverage in high-income countries enable their citizens to gradually resume normal life, much of the focus in the capitals of G7 countries is shifting from fighting Covid-19 to preventing future pandemics. It makes sense for them to seize the moment to make themselves safer from future threats.
