Opinion: In nature, there is no sharp dividing line between pandemic and non\u002Dpandemic. In policy, we need certainty, so we create an artificial distinction to determine when we’re obligated to take action.
Or two years and one day, to be exact, for it was on March 11, 2020, that World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “officially” declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
With that declaration, WHO members were encouraged to follow the organization’s advice on COVID, and to mobilize international health measures, such as COVAX, which distributes vaccines to developing countries. It is therefore worth trying to improve the situation, especially given what’s at stake at both ends of a pandemic. And one of the most frequently criticized aspects of the declaration is its binary nature: Either a PHEIC is issued or it isn’t.
Despite that, critics have suggested modifying the PHEIC system by adding an intermediate level to the binary choice of either declaring or not declaring a pandemic.
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