Anup Malani on India’s COVID Second Wave

Grand Tamasha

It has been a harrowing week for India. The country is reeling under the effects of a devastating second wave of the coronavirus, which is responsible for more than 300,000 new cases a day and more than 2,000 fatalities. And these official numbers are almost certainly a dramatic undercount.

To understand what is driving this new second wave of the virus and the global health implications of the surge, professor Anup Malani joins Milan on the show this week. Anup is the Lee and Brena Freeman professor at the University of Chicago Law School and a professor at the Pritzker School of Medicine.

Anup and Milan discuss India’s second COVID wave—what we know, what we don’t know, and what we need to find out. Plus, they discuss the findings of numerous serological studies Anup and his co-authors have conducted across India, the contested role of lockdowns, and the worrying prospect of vaccine nationalism.

Episode notes:

1. Anup Malani, “Research Notes” newsletter
2. Serological studies carried out by Anup Malani and his co-authors
3. Arvind Gupta et al, “To Friends in the United States: Facilitate Global Vaccine Manufacturing”
4. Amanda Glassman and Rachel Silverman, “The International Community Has One Job: Getting COVID-19 Under Control”