Introduction

Abstract

Pandemics don’t just happen. They are made – by us. The story of a pandemic is not just a biomedical tale. At every stage, from the first contact of a pathogenic microbe with a human being to its turning into a pandemic to desperate efforts to control it, its course is determined by sociological, economic, political, cultural, and psychological factors. If we want to prevent or more effectively mitigate future pandemics, perhaps pandemics even deadlier than COVID-19, we must understand not only coronavirus mutations and the mechanisms of the human immune response but the deep sociological, economic, political, cultural, and psychological lessons of COVID-19.