2021 - The Year of Public Health Politics
It has been exactly one year since I reflected on the success of public health in 2020. As predicted, 2021 has come with its own successes in public health. However, unlike 2020, the year 2021 is a roller coaster for the momentous up-and-down on the successful roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination and the lack of equity in the distribution and access to the same vaccines. I had hoped that by the end of 2021, the global effort to equitably distribute and access vaccines is successfully rolled out. But, this has not been achieved. At the start of the year is the happiness of new vaccines that could potentially shape the public health response to the pandemic. The happiness was short-lived by the complete disregard to science over politics throughout the United States and other parts of the globe. The United States saw the January 6 insurrection or the so-called attack on democracy which vehemently derailed the success of vaccine introduction. Then came the conspiracy theories o...