Covid19 has derailed the course of history and irrevocably transformed the world as we knew it. In isolation we watch it unfold from our windows, divorced from reality. Where do we go from here? The broken harmony of continuous crises has been met with paralysis. The arrested development spurred by the pandemic has brought the global economy to its knees and longstanding political systems into question. With the labor force at a standstill due to widespread unemployment, Capitalism has loosened its guarded grip with the arrogant assurance of an immutable status quo. You see, the seeds of inequity, pillars of neoliberalism, and ethos of exploitation have been sewn into the social fabric long ago. Despite circumstances being dire, the profit over people model symptomatic of our time manifests as patent protections and vaccine tiers.
As the virus continues to spread like wildfire, the growing number of fatalities and loved ones left in their wake reveal a collective experience that unites beyond that of pain and sorrow - it is one of poverty and marginalization. With causalities significantly higher across certain demographics, poor people and people of color find their communities disproportionately affected. Handicapped by their historical and economic (dis)placement, developing nations remain largely shut out of the vaccine rollout - with less than 1% of the global supply secured. Despite the multilateral efforts put forth by WHO’s COVAX initiative, the ad hoc nature of vaccine distribution has proven to pose a logistical nightmare with the cold chain capabilities of many low-income nations lacking the operational funding and planning necessary to successfully mobilize and administer the already limited resources.
Meanwhile, in a perverse paradox, tens of thousands of expired vaccine doses are being discarded every day in wealthier nations like the United States. However, the culprit is not poorly executed distribution, but a poorly educated population. In a marriage of desperation and exasperation, many government officials have resorted to offering cash rewards to those who get taxed. Yet, it looks like it's going to take more than lottery winnings to win over an increasingly paranoid public. It only takes one viral lie to vacate a vaccine center. Reinforced through repetition, reposts, likes, shares - the sustained narrative of unsourced misinformation parading as scientific discourse continues to corrupt our view of the world. There is no truth to uncover amidst the onslaught of media images, but an illusion to deconstruct. The Cartesian gap between conspiracy and reality reveals the societal impulse to reconcile turmoil with imbued meaning.
As the repercussions of loosening lockdown ripple through the population, there is a revolution ahead of us that cannot be left in the hands of the virus or misinformation campaigns across the web. Historically pandemics have forced humans to break with the past. The parameters of “normality” should be re-examined, rather than returned without reflection. The world at large was put on pause, it's resume translates as a second chance we’d have to be insane to squander. How we return to life post-pandemic has the potential to initiate vast and widespread environmental and socio-economic transformations across systems and mindsets. We are the change we have been waiting for.
