The Shadow of China’s Lockdown and COVID-era Learning Loss Tied to Food Insecurity

Editors' Note

This week marks four years since China locked down Wuhan in response to its COVID-19 outbreak—and the country is still feeling the aftershocks.
Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Ian Johnson reflects on how President Xi Jinping's choice to prioritize draconian lockdowns over mRNA vaccines caused a cascade of protests and economic turmoil. Johnson traces what the challenge means for China's and Xi's legacies. 
 
This week also witnessed Cameroon roll out the world's first malaria vaccine. Melissa Moree, former director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, r ecounts the insider story behind that historic launch and the missteps that delayed access to the safe and effective vaccine for almost a decade. Without urgent action, Moree fears tuberculosis vaccines could suffer the same fate. 

To commemorate the International Day of Education, Louisa Ewald, Claire Henson, and Emmanuela Gakidou from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation highlight new data from the Pandemic Recovery Survey, which collected responses from more than 500,000 participants from 21 countries. The results reveal a striking connection between food access and academic success during the pandemic.  

Closing out the week, journalist Charles Pensulo warns that "bogus doctors," or unlicensed medical practitioners, are on the rise across South Africa and Malawi.  