On May 5th, the official end of the Covid-19 pandemic, determined by the World Health Organization (WHO), passed. The first anniversary of this anniversary, in 2024, coincides with Mother’s Day. It is a happy coincidence and an opportunity to evoke life and health, and how we take care of both.
After the massive attack of SARS-CoV-2 during the Covid-19 pandemic, we now face the danger of mass amnesia. Nothing that humanity hasn’t already seen. In 1918 and 1919, the Spanish Flu ravaged the world on a global scale. It was devastating. About 2% of the world’s population died. It was quick: practically unopposed, the virus soon infected almost all of humanity.
How was it possible that we forgot such a tragedy to the point of not even marking its centenary in 2018? This forgetfulness intrigues historians and scientists. The best explanation is that the horrors of the world wars that preceded and followed the epidemic replaced, in the collective memory, the horrors of the pandemic. Once the danger was forgotten, the next pandemic caused astonishment.
In 2022, history began to repeat itself. The pandemic was followed by the return of war to Europe and the triggering of a very worrying conflict in the Middle East. Attention began to diverge, another daily life sets in and the memory of the pandemic fades. The risk of forgetting is the risk of being unprepared for the next pandemic and the lack of readiness to respond once it emerges.
The scientific effort to prepare and be ready for the next pandemic is underway, but it risks fading as memory dissipates. We must continue to invest in broad-spectrum antiviral and antibacterial medicines, potentially capable of inactivating future viruses and bacteria, faster and more effective methods of developing better biological medicines, and faster safety and efficacy testing for medicines and vaccines. This is the path, which can only be followed if, obviously, we do not forget why we are walking.
Interestingly, it is not only the collective amnesia of the 1918 Flu that intrigues historians and scientists: why is this flu called Spanish all over the world if it did not start in Spain? It doesn’t matter how we remember places and how we remember them. It doesn’t matter if we remember Covid-19 as a “Chinese Covid”. The next pandemic could start among us. Let us not forget. Let’s be prepared. And ready.
