The global toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is enormous: more than a half-million lives lost, hundreds of millions out of work, and trillions of dollars of wealth destroyed. And the disease has by no means run its course; hundreds of thousands more could well die from it.Not surprisingly, there is tremendous interest in the development of a vaccine, with more than a hundred efforts under way around the world.
According to the most recent tally, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal publish a combined total of 1,000 stories every day. Although the report didn’t say how many people read all of them, it’s safe to assume that nobody managed to do so.Each of us probably overlooks tens of thousands of important news stories every year.
When it comes to fighting infectious diseases, progress cannot be gauged by the availability of resources; the most important metric is the number of lives saved. By this measure, the world is on the verge of losing its battle with malaria.After years of impressive gains, global efforts to combat the mosquito-borne illness have stalled.
