On September 14, the Lancet Commission issued a set of recommendations for future plans for managing COVID-19. In the lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic published in the journal, they also criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) for acting "too cautiously and too slowly" on several important matters. Established in July 2020, the Lancet COVID-19 Commission consisted of 28 commissioners, all from different fields, such as public policy, international cooperation, epidemiology, vaccinology, etc. They were tasked with developing recommendations on how to best suppress the epidemic; addressing the humanitarian crises arising from the pandemic; addressing the financial and economic crises resulting from the pandemic; and rebuilding an inclusive, fair, and sustainable world.

The report bluntly criticized not just the WHO but also the governments across the world by noting that, according to the report provided by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, there were 6.9 million reported deaths and 17.2 million estimated deaths from COVID-19 till May 31, 2022.

The report added that this staggering death toll was both a profound tragedy and a massive global failure at multiple levels. The WHO was denounced for acting slowly on multiple issues, including a warning about the human transmissibility of the virus, declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, supporting international travel protocols designed to slow the spread of the virus, endorsing the public use of face masks as protection, and failing to recognize airborne transmission of the virus.

Further, the report highlighted the inadequate coordination among governments to contain the pandemic, including travel protocols, testing strategies, public health, and social measures, commodity supply chains, data standards and reporting systems, and advice to the public, despite the very high interdependence among countries.

However, they also noted that epidemic control was seriously hindered by public opposition to routine public health and social measures, such as masking and getting vaccinated, indicating low confidence in the government and low health literacy.