Covid-19 is at its last stage but its end will be messy without vaccines

Past pandemics show that the coronavirus finale was never going to be swift or clear-cut.

China has now delivered more than 1 billion vaccine doses, hitting that Covid-19 milestone the same weekend that Brazil passed one of its own: more than 500,000 deaths. Daily case numbers remain worryingly high, and those hospitalized and dying include larger numbers of young people. India, meanwhile, is at risk of a third wave of infections sooner than predicted, after a devastating second.

The end of the pandemic is almost here. But the tail is long and — thanks to short-sighted global and national policies — this phase is no more of a “great equalizer” than the start was. Blame