World View in 2021

Vaccine inequity, inconsistent public health measures and new variants such as Omicron are prolonging the COVID-19 pandemic, but controlling the virus remains possible.

Greater convergence between national regulators will help prepare for the next pandemic

Young people must be involved in setting the global health agenda.

Lack of rigor in approving aducanumab for Alzheimer’s disease may lead to serious harm.

Approval of aducanumab will herald a new era in Alzheimer’s disease care and research.

AI algorithms used for diagnosis and prognosis must be explainable and must not rely on a black box.

Asian healthcare workers have experienced racism during the COVID-19 pandemic, including from the medical community, with potentially long-term consequences for those affected.

Oligonucleotides offer therapeutic potential for patients with genetic disorders carrying unique mutations, but developing individualized therapies is not supported by the current process for drug development.

Revisiting the challenges of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when doctors and patients had to make treatment decisions without the support of scientific evidence, can provide valuable clues on how to prepare for future pandemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic should revive a shared understanding of humanitarian emergencies and crisis resolution, opening the door to transformative change in humanitarian responses. But it has also revealed political opportunism and poor data-reporting structures.

Investigations show that those spreading misinformation that undermines the rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 are well financed, determined and disciplined. To counter their activities, we need to understand them as an industry actively working to sow doubts about the deadliness of COVID-19, vaccines and medical professionals’ integrity.

Former WHO Director-General Margaret Chan has learned some tenets at the heart of resolving every global health crisis. However, in the COVID-19 pandemic, pervasive complacency in the face of this learning kills.

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to reimagine preparedness for and responses to future pandemics.

Understanding disparities between genders in career equity could help promote equal pay and equal opportunity for women in academia.

Is it time to shift to a model of ‘inclusion unless otherwise justified’ in trials of vaccines for pandemics?

Stakeholders in public health must lobby policy makers to make decisions based on evidence, not political expediency, particularly when the studies that hang in the balance are critical to understanding the origins of epidemics.