BSR Policy Briefing 6/2021

Polish struggle against COVID-19
Authored by Bartosz Arłukowicz

The article describes and analyses the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. It takes us through the most important statistics relating to it as well as offers a short commentary on each of them. It introduces the social and political context in which the pandemic befell on the Polish society and shows the actions undertaken by the authorities on the healthcare system level as well as on the organisational level with regard to measures introduced to prevent the spread of the pandemic. Finally, the article summarises the efforts of the vaccination campaign in Poland and offers some analysis of its weak and strong aspects. This policy brief argues that the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland has been exacerbated by certain political choices made by the government. It shows that the insufficient level of testing, chaotic dissemination of information concerning lockdowns, as well as the undermining of the seriousness of the SARS CoV-2 by the representatives of the state led to increased incidence and mortality in Poland. However, the rollout of the vaccination campaign offers some hope that there difficulties will be surmounted and that Polish society will finally go out of the pandemic and go back to normal life. The article concludes with some overarching thoughts on the need for preparedness for future public health crises that can occur in our lifetimes.

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