Category: Science Policy

  • Closed Borders Will Not Keep Out More Infectious Forms of COVID

    Border closing efforts serve as a distractions. We need to focus on known methods of disease control — vaccination, masks and social distancing. Read the rest at USA Today.

  • Vaccine Administration Is Much Harder than It Seems

    Substantial logistical challenges and vaccine refusal by health care providers have contributed to a slow vaccine rollout. Better policies could fix this. Read the rest at USA Today.

  • The Geopolitics of Vaccine Distribution

    Inoculations are a welcome development, but the public should temper its excitement. Read the rest at Geopolitical Futures.

  • The Trouble With a Premature Vaccine

    Hope is beginning to fade that the world will have a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine before the predicted “second wave” arrives that will further suppress economic activity and recovery. Despite an unprecedented global effort, a deliverable vaccine might still be months away. Almost certainly it won’t be ready by October as many hoped. Dr.…

  • The Geopolitical Importance of the WHO

    In 1958, the Soviet Union proposed a global effort to eradicate smallpox, a disease that kills roughly a third of those it infects, including 300 million in the 20th century alone. On Dec. 9, 1979, it was completely eradicated. This public health triumph – perhaps the greatest in the history of mankind – would not have…

  • Will the Coronavirus Forge a Brave New World?

    Of all the major geopolitical players on the planet, Mother Nature may be the toughest adversary. Nature has neither imperatives nor constraints to guide its behavior. Rather, it operates off general patterns that occur under various conditions. While the patterns provide broad strokes of expected behavior, it strikes mostly randomly. Even predictable phenomena, such as the Atlantic…

  • Four Coronavirus Lessons That We Will (or Won’t) Learn

    When a patient dies in a hospital, it’s not uncommon for doctors to convene what is known as a morbidity and mortality conference, the goal of which is to determine what went wrong and why. In the months and years following a national crisis, we engage in a somewhat similar process. Over time, official investigations…

  • China’s Poorly Regulated Food and Drugs Threaten U.S. Consumers

    When the coronavirus pandemic slows and allows us to catch a breath — both literally and figuratively — there will be an international reckoning that likely will end with China bearing the brunt of the blame. In order to force China to implement adequate safety standards, we should stop importing essential items, especially food, medicine and medical…

  • Coronavirus and the Peril of Politicizing Medicine

    All human institutions are political. This follows naturally from Aristotle’s observation that “man is by nature a political animal.” If one wishes to rise to the very top of one’s field, it is not sufficient to be competent. Instead, one must also be diplomatic, savvy and – when the time calls for it – brutal.…

  • Stop the Panic. Don’t Let the Coronavirus Win.

    In response to the coronavirus pandemic, democratic governments across the world have implemented unprecedented peacetime lockdowns. One California city is even using night vision equipped drones — made in China, ironically — to enforce it. A city in Washington encourages citizens to snitch on those who violate the “stay home” order. Let’s pause a moment to consider the serious…