HKS Affiliated Authors

Frank and Denie Weil Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government
Charles W. Eliot University Professor

Excerpt

We play with fire if we skimp on public health. Lawrence Summers, November 10, 2014, Opinion. "Epidemics and pandemics are like earthquakes. Tragic, inevitable and unpredictable. It starts as a random event. A virus jumps species from a bird, bat, or other animal to “Patient Zero” – who passes it on to other human beings. More likely than not, over the course of this century we will face an influenza pandemic similar to the one in 1918 that killed 50m people. President Barack Obama’s first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said in the wake of the global economic meltdown that “you never let a serious crisis go to waste”. Crises are opportunities to learn..." Link