TY - JOUR T1 - What will we choose to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic? JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007005 VL - 6 IS - 8 SP - e007005 AU - Alice Uwase Bayingana AU - Agnes Binagwaho AU - Kedest Mathewos Y1 - 2021/08/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/6/8/e007005.abstract N2 - Summary boxAs many high-income countries started to get a handle on COVID-19 cases through mass vaccination, plans and celebrations for a ‘return to normal’ started to pour in.We need to be careful who we tell the story of the COVID-19 pandemic lest it goes down in history as an economic inconvenience instead of the mass disabling and mass death event it continues to be.We must remind ourselves and each other what true solidarity and shared responsibility look like.Only then can the systems we create stand a chance of adequately preparing us for and getting us through this current health security threat and the ones we will inadvertently encounter in the future.Now that we have highly effective vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, many in high-income countries (HICs) have started to move on from the pandemic and ‘return to normal’.1 2 All the while, many of the working-class poor and marginalised communities in those countries who were treated like sacrificial lambs for the past year and a half are still reeling from massive loss, disability and trauma.3–5 Outside of their own countries, global representatives of HIC governments are fighting tooth and nail to control the supply and manufacture of vaccines worldwide, calling into question whether this ‘return to normal’ is meant to be for all of us or only a few.6One would be rightfully shocked to recall that just 2 years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, calls for solidarity both within and across communities and nations were the norm; many pieces were written, and speeches delivered, to celebrate and encourage acts of collective responsibility and solidarity. From the creation of the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative7 to the sharing of prevention strategies like wearing a mask and staying home so grandma is not put … ER -