Policewoman directs traffic in downtown Lima during the quarantine in Peru. Photo: Victor Idrogo / World Bank
As countries prepare for COVID-19 immunization campaigns, it is equally important to look back at the past months and examine what policy interventions worked in the health sector, what did not work and what can be done better.
Disrupted global supply chains, limited knowledge of the disease, lack of information and weak monitoring systems were some of the reasons health systems were mostly “flying blind” at the onset of the pandemic in March of 2020. But this no longer needs to be the case – understanding what interventions worked in what context may help countries chart a course forward and mitigate future outbreaks of the disease as they roll out vaccine distribution.