Vaccinations were supposed end our nightmare, and we would enjoy a 2021 summer without fear. But I was shocked when the season ended in some of the most severe cases and deaths. It was time to speak to Larry Brilliant once again. Brilliant is the CEO of Pandefense Advisory, as well as senior counsel to the Skoll Foundation. He was also part of the global team that eradicated smallpox. In the last 18 months, we have had many conversations about Covid. Brilliant shared a mixture of science-based analysis and hard truths, as well as reassurance that we would one day be back to normal. He wasn't the only one who wrote an article about Covid-19, The Forever Virus, in Foreign Affairs this summer.
Brilliant, 77 years old, is now as impatient as us, even though he has been careful living in Marin Country, California. Scientists turned around the pandemic faster than we have with Covid, even in Contagion 2010, the disaster movie he advised on. After witnessing failed policies and the devastation caused by a viral epidemic, he is audibly upset. He reminds us, however, that we have come a long distance. We have a vaccine that works and a presidential administration that is committed to solving the problem. There are still many obstacles, and one of them is the millions of children under 12 years old who have not been vaccinated.
This was, in a way this was the most difficult of all the conversations I've had with him. He is still struggling with the contradiction between the availability of a vaccine and the increasing number of deaths. This is especially true when certain countries have ample vaccination supplies while others have limited access. He believes that the virus will be around forever. However, the virus is becoming more resistant through vaccines and natural antibody. There will be a day when it doesn't control our lives, poison our politics, or fill our ICUs. It all depends on how and when we respond.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
Steven Levy: Are we blowing it?
Larry Brilliant: This has happened several times. The original sin was the Chinese government knowing that they had an outbreakknowing it was respiratory-spreadand allowing probably single-digit millions of [Lunar New Year] festival holiday travelers to pass through the epidemic area, get on airplanes, and go to foreign countries. This was the first opportunity to stop this from happening.
Trump was number two. We would have taken the virus seriously if we had any chance of pursuing China. Trump's actions were unkind to ostriches if we make the comparison. He pretends not to have noticed. Trump claimed that he didn't notice the passengers on the cruise ship returning to San Francisco. This is how Covid got politicized.
Okay, I'm talking about 2021. Things were looking up with the new administration. It seems like we have lost momentum and that the White House has lost its grip on its narrative.
We have a problem right now because people continue to believe that children don't get it and that they shouldn't spread it. Last week, there were 250,000 Covid-infected children in the United States. Around 100,000 schools were opened on or around the first of September. We know that vaccination, testing and masking will protect children. Which 100,000 schools did you think would win the trifecta?
