Tom Bollyky: We Dont Know How This Started

Published: Sept. 14, 2021, 8:37 p.m.

Tom Bollyky joined us on the occasion of our 100th\xa0episode to reflect on President Biden\u2019s six-point re-set of US pandemic policy, unveiled September 9, and to discuss what can be done to break the deadlock over determining the origin of SARS-CoV-2.\xa0President Biden\u2019s patience has clearly run out, and the new approach, heavily reliant on mandates, will stir political blowback, litigation, and defiant disobedience which may slow progress versus accelerate momentum.\xa0It\u2019s \u201cnot a happy day\u201d when people will be \u201cpushed into a corner.\u201d It\u2019s disappointing that the private sector did not earlier do far more.\xa0Our national narrative may however improve, as higher rates of hospitalization of children deflate the individual freedom argument.\xa0On the origins controversy, it is \u201cutterly unsurprising\u201d that the US intelligence review was inconclusive. The origin issue is indeed terribly important, at this historic \u201cpolicy moment,\u201d since without resolution, we are blocked in our prevention approaches. We are in a \u201cdark environment\u201d and there is no prospect for progress in global health unless we find a basis for cooperation between the US and China. In the meantime, we should prioritize moving ahead with more rigorous lab safety standards and end wildlife trade and wet markets.\nThomas J. Bollyky is the Director of the Global Health Program\xa0and Senior Fellow for Global Health, Economics, and Development at the Council on Foreign Relations.