SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to spread, quickly becoming dominant in countries all over the

world. Meanwhile, vaccine delivery continues to be slow. South Africa halted distribution

of the AstraZeneca vaccine on evidence that it only conferred 10% protection against

the variant that has become dominant there. Cases continue to decline in the US, down another

30% over the past two weeks. This is America Dissective. I'm your host, Dr. Abdul-Elseir.

This was President Biden last week in an important speech laying out the focus for his

administrations for in policy. From the pandemic to the climate crisis to

nuclear proliferation, challenging the will only to be solved by nations working together

and in common. We can't do it alone. We must start with diplomacy.

Rooted in America's most cherished democratic values.

First, isn't it amazing to hear a President talk about working with others to solve our

biggest crises rather than against them? The speech laid out an ambitious approach to

rethinking American foreign policy rooted in diplomacy, mutual cooperation, and multilateralism.

To be sure, there wasn't time when that was rather a commonplace. And yet, in too many

moments of shame for our country, whether the war in Vietnam, the war in Iraq war, endless

grown war in countries all over the world, we've broken from that tradition and killed hundreds

of thousands of people. The US has a long history of leadership when it comes to pandemics.

Again, there was a time when our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were the

unquestioned global authority on public health, the model that every other country

worked to emulate. And this was a bipartisan consensus.

We wait for a pandemic to appear. It will be too late to prepare. And one day many lives

could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today.

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