How COVID-19 Vaccines Inhibited Real Change

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They saved millions of lives but absolved countries from fixing core problems.

By Cameron Abadi, a deputy editor at Foreign Policy, and Adam Tooze, a columnist at Foreign Policy and director of the European Institute at Columbia University. Sign up for Adam’s Chartbook newsletter here.

Sang Lee (center) receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Kedren Community Health Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 16, 2021.

Sang Lee (center) receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Kedren Community Health Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 16, 2021. Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images

As the world marks four years since the spread of COVID-19, scientists, public health officials, and economists are taking stock—with decidedly mixed results. Millions of people around the world died from COVID-19 or related diseases. But millions were also saved by vaccines. In a study published in 2021, scientists put the chances of a major pandemic occurring in any given year at 2 percent—a daunting figure, given the death and damage wrought by COVID-19.

Cameron Abadi is a deputy editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @CameronAbadi

Adam Tooze is a columnist at Foreign Policy and a history professor and the director of the European Institute at Columbia University. He is the author of Chartbook, a newsletter on economics, geopolitics, and history. Twitter: @adam_tooze