When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Coronavirus

Shot Of Hope, What Good Vaccine News Tells Us About Ourselves

The announcement by Pfizer and BioNTech that their COVID-19 vaccine trials have tallied a 90% success rate comes as a second wave of the virus is hitting not only public health, but the public psyche.

Pfizer's announcement of a promising new vaccine does more than simply boost the stock market
Pfizer's announcement of a promising new vaccine does more than simply boost the stock market
David Barroux

-Analysis-

PARIS — It's too early to proclaim victory. But it's not too late to restore hope.

In a world overrun with pessimism and skepticism, one which often pays far too much attention to conspiracy theorists who doubt science and bank on worst-case scenarios, Pfizer's announcement of a promising new vaccine does more than simply boost the stock market. The encouraging result of this anti-COVID-19 drug, developed with the German biotech company BioNtech, is also an opportunity to remind us that science is a powerful weapon for the benefit of humankind.

Even before the pandemic struck the planet, society was facing major challenges. How can we fight against the apparent inevitability of global warming? How can we feed 9 billion people in the future without further destroying the environment? How can we find the energy sources that allow us to produce, light, heat, and travel without using fossil fuels?

The time for questions and the time of answers are not the same

While there is a near-global consensus on the world's problems, we are completely at odds when it comes to potential solutions. The most defeatist among us believe that it is already too late, that the human race has dug its own grave, and that we are sprinting toward our doom. The most optimistic want to believe that human ingenuity will always allow us to overcome any situation by coming up with new solutions. Others, more radical, claim that there is no silver bullet and that we ought to simply reject consumerism and practice a new form of eugenics.

The truth is that the time it takes to pose questions and the time to find the answers are not the same. To become aware of a problem and then to find a solution takes months, even years, and lost time cannot be fully recovered. But even in our society of permanent flip-flopping, debates in which all arguments are the same, scientific innovation"s inability to always offer an immediate solution does not mean we should give up on it.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, those who are convinced that the coronavirus is nothing more than one big manipulation — a disease spread by laboratories in a hurry to line their pockets, or a gigantic plot hatched by some all-powerful group — have generated considerable media attention. Taking advantage of the echo chamber provided by social networks, they have made the whole world doubt itself. And though now's not the time to bask in blissful optimism, we can still acknowledge that the worst is not necessarily yet to come.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Maryinka As Memory: How A City In Ukraine Has Been Blown Out Of Existence

Citizens of the now destroyed Ukrainian city of Maryinka are left struggling to remember what their town used to look like.

Photo of the destroyed city of Maryinka

The destroyed city of Maryienka by Russian forces

Mykhailo Krygel

As Yulia Semendyaeva looks at a photo of the Ukrainian city of Maryinka, the place where she was born and lived 29 of the 30 years of her life, she cannot recognize a single street.

"The ponds are the only things that are still where I remember them," she says.

As Yulia’s hometown had become unrecognizable, the world, for the first time, was beginning to notice it.

When people began to share photos of the completely destroyed city, where seemingly not one building remained untouched, the Russian military boasted of the "impressive" results of what it calls the "denazification" project in Ukraine.

Today, Maryinka only exists on maps. Its streets still have names. But in reality, it is all only rubble.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest