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2021 felt like even more of a rollercoaster ride than 2020. In the public health world, one thing was constant: upheaval. We endured some enormous losses, but made some major gains and are closing out the year with so much left to do.

In the final issue of Expert Insights for 2021, in another year marked by a pandemic, racial reckoning, political upheaval, and climate disasters as well as major health care breakthroughs, innovation, and true moments of humanity and even humor. 

Subscribe and get the Expert Insights newsletter twice a week to stay informed. In 2022, we’ll continue to share COVID-19 pandemic takeaways from public health experts as well as insights on other urgent public health issues.

Some major moments this year:

• 2021 kicked off with horrifying violence in the U.S. Capitol; Bloomberg School Dean Ellen J. MacKenzie as one of sadness, along with purpose and hope for the nation’s healing.
• President Biden’s transition marked a new era of COVID-19 response for the U.S.—one that on vaccinations, greater access to testing, and restoring trust in scientific institutions like the NIH, CDC, and FDA. 
• In May, the FDA OK’d the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 12-15, about , especially on the heels of the . 
• One year after his murder, we . The conviction of Derek Chauvin was “.”&�Բ�����;
• In June, of the first CDC report “mark[ing] the dawn of the recognition of AIDS.”&�Բ�����;
• This summer, Some areas of the U.S. with lagging vaccination rates once again saw .
• in July.
• In October, . That same month, the . 
• Public health officials to speak out against violence and harassment, before the next health crisis hits. 
• We in our institution’s history.  
• A made headlines. 
• A including emails, memos, and sales reports, was uploaded to the newly formed Opioid Industry Documents Archive.
• Experts continued to worry about vaccine inequity in and reminded us that until we get the world vaccinated, new variants will continue to emerge. One way to ensure vaccine access to all countries? to make them. 
• The despite a multitude of proven .

Some big COVID knowledge gains to acknowledge this year:

• Immunosuppression is not a major risk factor for severe COVID. 
• The world needs , and South Africa stepped up when omicron came on the scene.
• New data on long COVID: It can result from mild cases and impact .
• Oral antivirals could help change the trajectory of the pandemic.
• A huge red flag: health crisis.
• There’s still hope for convalescent plasma as an early treatment option.

We in March with the requisite group photo/Zoom screen shot. We put — —into public health messaging. We explored pandemic life in terms of dating, , , and . We rethought the concept of herd immunity in the context of sluggish global vaccine rollouts and emerging variants of concern like —, and wrecking the curve’s downward trajectory with an unforeseen spike in new infections. 

In 2022, all of us will continue to adapt to COVID in new ways, but the nation will ideally focus its response toward strategies to protect high-risk individuals from severe disease and death. 

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the and the associate director of content strategy for the Johns ��ѻ��ý.

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• What We Do and Don’t Know About Long COVID and Long-Haulers