Further, as we learned in 2020 (if we didn’t understand it already), we cannot wall ourselves off from diseases that cross borders. If COVID variants are stewing in low-vaccination countries like India, Ukraine, and Nigeria, they can and will threaten the rest of the globe. The Centers for Disease Control now advises that the Delta variant, which arose in India, is more transmissible than the common cold, the 1918 Spanish flu, smallpox, Ebola, MERS, and SARS. It also makes people sicker than the original COVID.

Here’s another reason to vaccinate the world: As I noted in my earlier piece, our vaccines advertise the greatness of America. They work—unlike the inferior products produced by China and Russia. Innovation is one of our strengths, and what better advertisement can there be for an open, entrepreneurial system than a wonder drug that so successfully combats the deadly plague that has plunged the world into chaos?

In fact, these vaccines are such a miracle that we should all be on our knees thanking the genius doctors and scientists who brought them to us in record time. The previous record for developing a working vaccine was the one for mumps, which took four years. Four years!