Flash Points: How COVID-19 eroded trust in governments

[Foreign Policy Logo]( [Foreign Policy Flashpoints]( March 26, 2021 | [View in browser]( The mistakes started piling up in the earliest days of the pandemic. First came China’s, Annie Sparrow [wrote]( last week, as Beijing concealed the coronavirus, censored information, and silenced doctors, which left the world without warning of what was to come. When COVID-19 reached the United States, the country’s hubris—and specifically public health experts’ misplaced belief in U.S. exceptionalism—led to one of the worst pandemic responses in the world and more than 530,000 deaths, Ethan Guillén [wrote](. Blame also rests with former U.S. President Donald Trump, whose negligence amid the country’s third wave this winter, Foreign Policy’s Laurie Garrett has [argued]( amounts to pandemicide. Since then, vaccine rollouts have begun, though not always as planned. Europe, for instance, has botched its vaccine program thanks to overzealous regulation, export controls, under-procurement, and, most recently, the decision to halt administration of Britain’s AstraZeneca vaccines, Eyck Freymann and Elettra Ardissino [wrote]( last week. Leaders worldwide are succumbing to vaccine nationalism, as World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus [argued]( in February, which must end in order to beat COVID-19 once and for all. --------------------------------------------------------------- [The Chinese Government’s Cover-Up Killed Health Care Workers Worldwide]( Bad advice based on false information led to fatal mistakes. By Annie Sparrow --------------------------------------------------------------- [U.S. Exceptionalism Created Deadly COVID-19 Failures]( The U.S. calamity wasn’t Trump’s fault alone—but it doesn’t have to happen again. By Ethan Guillén --------------------------------------------------------------- [Trump Is Guilty of Pandemicide]( History will show the former U.S. president was staggeringly negligent during the pandemic’s deadly third wave. By Laurie Garrett --------------------------------------------------------------- [Once Again, Europe Is Sabotaging Its Own Vaccine Rollout]( The decision to halt administration of AstraZeneca vaccines is unscientific, will derail the reopening, and could result in thousands of unnecessary deaths. By Eyck Freymann and Elettra Ardissino --------------------------------------------------------------- [Vaccine Nationalism Harms Everyone and Protects No One]( The World Health Organization’s chief argues that hoarding vaccines isn’t just immoral—it’s medically self-defeating. By Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Photo: Laurent Cipriani/Pool/AFP via Getty Images --------------------------------------------------------------- The [Winter 2021 FP Guide: Leaders in Graduate Education]( features stories of inspirational professors, deans, and students at top schools who are training future leaders in international affairs for the next 50 years to confront the multiple challenges facing global stability. FOLLOW FP ON This email was sent to {EMAIL} because you are subscribed to FP’s Flashpoints newsletter. Want a friend to receive this newsletter? [Forward it]( now. Want to receive other FP newsletters? [Manage]( your FP newsletter preferences. [unsubscribe]( | [privacy policy]( | [contact us]( | [advertise]( Foreign Policy magazine is a division of Graham Holdings Company. All contents © 2021 The Slate Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Foreign Policy, 1750 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20006. [Link](