The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

We are now entering the third decade of the 21st Century, and, especially in the last years, the achievements made by scientists have been exceptional, leading to major advancements in the fast-growing field of Immunology. Frontiers has organized a series of Research Topics to highlight the latest advancements in research across the field of Immunology in 2022. This editorial initiative of particular relevance, led by Prof. Francesca Granucci Specialty Chief Editor of the Molecular Innate Immunity section, and Dr. Uday Kishore is focused on new insights, novel developments, current challenges, latest discoveries, recent advances, and future perspectives in the field of molecular innate immunity.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Global High-Tech Challenge at the Interface of Science, Politics, and Illusions discusses COVID-19 as the first pandemic in the Internet era and our current reality of continuous reports, news, and updates. Since its beginning, we were daily bombarded with news of what was happening around the world. There was no global political leadership. The United States was politically partially paralyzed. Russia and China hoped to gain diplomatic profile worldwide, but their vaccines are of limited efficacy, and trust in their clinical data is rightly low. The European Union did not order enough vaccines in time, but sued a large manufacturer for delivery delays. Now it is setting up yet another bureaucratic institution. At least the pharmaceutical or life science industry paved the way out, but is not enthusiastically praised for it. It would be too easy and superficial to blame mistakes of governments and leaders on stupidity. Idiocy exists, but we have to go deeper to understand how illusions and blind spots in today's common perception and science, inertia, arrogance, conflicts of interest, competition of individuals, and states and institutions for public recognition have contributed to a multitude of flawed assessments and direct mistakes. Healthcare professionals and anyone interested in an in-depth understanding of humankind's response to the COVID-19 challenge will not get around the key conclusions of this book. - Outlines key elements of modern civilization, public health, and drug and vaccine development on the background of the COVID-19 pandemic - Discusses the historical roots of separate drug approval of vaccines and drugs in administratively classified "children" (of whom many are bodily mature long before their 16th or 18th birthday), and why the belated approval of vaccines against COVID-19 in minors is not based on science, but on blurs and conflicts of interest - Outlines key elements we need to address to become better prepared for future global health challenges. In the first place, we do not need new institutions, but to overcome intellectual barriers and blind spots