Written by Marcin Grajewski,

© Leigh Prather / Adobe Stock

As the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic appears to be peaking in Europe, governments and citizens are buoyed by the successful human trials of several vaccines which their producers hope to be able to distribute broadly over the coming months. There is a growing expectation that, as these vaccines start to become available to the general public in coming months, daily life may gradually return to normal, or at least to a ‘new normal’, during the course of 2021. Meanwhile, many regions of the world continue in some form of lockdown to stave off the second wave. The political debate on health policy is currently focussed on not only priorities for distributing the vaccine in the advanced economies, such as those of the EU, but on how to make it available to poorer countries too, as scientists underline that the virus knows no borders.

This note offers links to recent commentaries, studies and reports from major international think tanks on pandemic-related issues. Earlier think tank studies on the issue can be found in the ‘What Think Tanks are Thinking’ of 10 November.

Managing the unimaginable
Friends of Europe, December 2020

Meeting the healthcare needs of chronic patients: Lessons to learn from the Covid-19 pandemic
Friends of Europe, November 2020

Covid-19 is ushering in a new era in geopolitics: We must embrace it
Friends of Europe, November 2020

How African tech reinvented universal income to combat Covid-19
Friends of Europe, November 2020

Course aux vaccins contre le Covid-19: Quels enjeux géopolitiques?
Institut des relations internationales et stratégiques, November 2020

Les conséquences économiques du Covid-19 et ses enjeux géopolitiques
Institut des relations internationales et stratégiques, November 2020

Covid-19: Des vaccins sous le sapin?
Institut des relations internationales et stratégiques, November 2020

The scarring effect of Covid-19: Youth unemployment in Europe
Bruegel, November 2020

Grading the big pandemic test
Bruegel, November 2020

Europe is losing competitiveness in global value chains while China surges
Bruegel, November 2020

Covid-19 could leave another generation of young people on the scrapheap
Bruegel, November 2020

Covid-19 révèle la solitude stratégique de l’Europe
Institut français des relations internationales, November 2020

Les opinions publiques européennes à l’égard de la Chine au temps de la Covid-19: Différences et points communs à travers le continent
Institut français des relations internationales, November 2020

French public opinion on China in the age of Covid-19: Political distrust trumps economic opportunities
Institut français des relations internationales, November 2020

A Democratic tour de force: How the Korean State successfully limited the spread of Covid-19
Institut français des relations internationales, November 2020

Europeanising health policy in times of coronationalism
Clingendael, November 2020

The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on US and European commitment to the multilateral economic order
Instituto Affari Internazionali, November 2020

The Aftermath: American power after Covid-19
Instituto Affari Internazionali, November 2020

Covid-19 and the foreign policy perceptions of US public and elites
Instituto Affari Internazionali, November 2020

The pandemic, digitisation and international trade: New challenges for the G20
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, November 2020

After the pandemic: Global overheating to take centre stage at T20 and G20
Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, November 2020

The skill challenges posed by Covid-19
Centre for European Policy Studies, November 2020

The insurance properties of common debt issuance
Centre for European Policy Studies, November 2020

Tracking European solidarity during Covid-19: Lessons from the first wave
European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2020

Bubble trouble: Estonia and the coronavirus crisis
European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2020

Latvia during Covid: How success bred complacency
European Council on Foreign Relations, October 2020

What is the world doing to create a Covid-19 vaccine?
Council on Foreign Relations, November 2020

Home for thanksgiving: How holidays may present a public health threat
Council on Foreign Relations, November 2020

Reflections on the election in pandemic America
Council on Foreign Relations, November 2020

Improving pandemic preparedness: Lessons from Covid-19
Council on Foreign Relations, November 2020

Télétravail: Qu’apporte le nouvel accord conclu par les partenaires sociaux ?
Institute Montaigne, November 2020

Covid-19: La réponse des plateformes en ligne face à l’ultradroite
Fondation pour l’innovation politique, November 2020

Covid, trade, the G20, WTO and Oscar Wilde
European Centre for International Political Economy, November 2020

Six aspects of daily life rapidly changed by Covid-19
Chatham House, November 2020

Why the pandemic and populism still work together
Chatham House, November 2020

Reimagining the global economy for a post-COVID-19 world
Brookings Institution, November 2020

How to address inequality exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic
Brookings Institution, November 2020

Coronavirus pandemic
Fundacion Real Instituto Elcano, November 2020

La crise de la Covid19 pourrait conduire à revoir la place du militaire dans les priorités budgétaires
Groupe de Recherche et d’Information sur la Paix et la Sécurité, November 2015

How to use data for the public interest, even – or especially – in a pandemic
Heinrich Böll Stiftung, November 2020

Government in a pandemic
Cato, November 2020

Protecting democracy and public health from online disinformation
German Marshall Fund, November 2020

A public sector view of tech, inclusion, and participation during the coronavirus
German Marshall Fund, October 2020

Can the EU solve the budget and rule-of-law crisis?
Carnegie Europe, October 2020

Coronavirus tracking apps: Normalizing surveillance during states of emergency
Carnegie Europe, October 2020

Brexit and Covid-19 are a toxic mix
Centre for European Reform, October 2020

The Covid crisis, an opportunity for a ‘new multilateralism’?
Confrontations Europe, October 2020

Recovering from the pandemic: An appraisal of lessons learned
Fondation Européenne d’Etudes Progressistes, October 2020

Covid: Faute d’avoir mis à profit les six derniers mois, l’État sacrifie nos libertés
Institut Thomas More, October 2020


Read this briefing on ‘Coronavirus: The battle continues‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.