How the Covid-19 pandemic became the biggest scandal of the 21st century

How will the now over two years old SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 global pandemic go down in history?

I have previously blogged why SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 is a relatively harmless disease and why the cure was worse than the disease.

Let me try (the order of the bullet points is not really relevant. I am sure my enumeration is incomplete):

1. Western countries imposed one size fits all draconian measures (vaccination mandates, lockdowns etc.) instead of rapidly focusing on the actually vulnerable population. Individual liberty was cast aside by many Western governments on every level like never before since 1945! It was quickly clear (latest by about April 2020) that this disease is only particularly dangerous to older and immune compromised people. Tremendous government paternalism and failure became very obvious quickly, but it was not corrected even after two years into the pandemic! Many life long career politicians turned out to be very inept or incompetent! Perhaps, it is time to institute term limits for all politicians!
2. The role of the media and other elites (e.g. doctors, scientists) was anything but helpful! They have mostly parroted government policies instead of questioning it! Many of these elites have actively covered up or suppressed the truth about the pandemic!
3. One can easily argue and conclude that the cure was worse than the disease. The negative impact on peoples lives, society, and the economy was very disproportional to its damage!
4. The statistics about the dangers or severity of the pandemic were constantly manipulated for over two years. Latest by about mid-2020 it was very clear that this pandemic is actually fairly harmless. Especially children and younger adults had little to fear.
5. The significant number of side effects of the mass vaccinations were possibly conveniently downplayed or not reported
6. The pandemic was probably also heavily exploited for various, unrelated political motives (never let a crisis go to waste). E.g. to prevent the reelection of President Trump, for the demagoguery of phony climate crisis etc.
7. The Wuhan Institute of Virology lab leak hypothesis was immediately dismissed and suppressed as conspiracy theory by governments, media, and the elite (PhD scientists)
8. China was not really condemned for its obstruction of investigations into the origins of the virus. Were Western countries kowtowing before the new global superpower run by a dictatorial communist party with a long history of committing crimes against humanity? Dangerous appeasement all over again? President Trump was ridiculed for saying the China virus. However whether the release of this virus was purely a natural event or a tragic human accident or a deliberate release by humans is still unknown to the public.
9. At least one Western country financed so called virus gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in circumvention of this Western country's safety regulations. The man (Anthony Fauci) responsible for all this is still in office and it appears he will not face any indictment before he dies (He is 81 years old)!
10. The push in Western countries to have as many as possible children and teenagers vaccinated. Minors were the least affected by the pandemic. As if it was not enough to turn the entire adult population into guinea pigs for new vaccinations!