Normality got us into the mess of the Covid-19 pandemic – a return to it won’t help us, vaccine or not
The IndependentThe best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy When pharmaceutical firms announced the discovery of a Covid vaccine, government scientists hailed the prospect of “life returning to normal” by spring, and the world breathed a collective sigh of relief. “Normality” for much of the world involves eating produce from factory farms – which leading experts say has caused most new infectious diseases in humans in the past decade. And routinely dosing meat animals with antibiotics is an invitation to antibiotic resistance – another serious risk factor, one that prompted warnings from the World Health Organisation even before this year’s pandemic. These days it’s even fairly normal to have “exotic” pets, from parrots to reptiles, even though it’s blinding obvious that transporting them halfway around the world helps viruses travel.
History of this topic
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2 years into pandemic, world takes cautious steps forward
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