Some on the Left in the United States (US) and other parts of the world have argued that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a lab leak and/or that the vaccines for COVID-19 have done more harm than good. Criticisms have been aimed at the rest of the Left both for uncritically accepting mainstream views on COVID and for not contesting the censorship which (they claim) dissenting viewpoints have encountered. They see these stances as having seriously weakened the Left, at least in the US. Their contention that the lab leak hypothesis is important puts more of a focus on finding “perpetrators” rather than changing the overall capitalist system. In this House Organ, I present evidence that global capitalism is making zoonotic leaps of infectious agents from animals to humans—and thus pandemics—become more likely and more dangerous, and that COVID-19 vaccines have reduced illness and saved lives. I also challenge the claim that dissenting viewpoints have been censored. When sections of the Left argue against vaccination and insist on the importance of lab leaks as an issue, this can make it more likely that health advocates will engage in single-issue politics and avoid socialism, anarchism, and other general left political perspectives.
The Left is not immune: Some thoughts on COVID-related lab leak and vaccine fixations
Capitalism Nature Socialism [Epub 2025 Aug 10]. doi: 10.1080/10455752.2025.2530506.