IMHO the main reasons for this massive backfire of unwise policy choices are: 1) fear over Trump winning (I have zero love for Trump and am very glad he's gone but I was not willing to destroy the world to get rid of him); 2) longstanding pro-vaccine and "pro-pandemic" agendas by Gates Foundation and various other players that were waiting for opportunity, quite similar to PNAC after 9/11; 3) Xi and China eager to use the pandemic as an excuse to crack down hard on their population and to rein in demonstrations in Hong Kong; 4) and of course the ever present "if it bleeds it leads" trend in media. Surely there are other big ones but these I think constitute the main reasons.