An awkward query stays 5 years after COVID-19 started its lethal rampage: is the world able to deal with the subsequent pandemic?
The World Health Organization (WHO), which was on the coronary heart of the pandemic response, has been galvanizing efforts to find out the place the subsequent menace would possibly come from and to make sure the planet is able to face it.
But whereas the U.N. well being company considers the world extra ready than it was when COVID-19 hit, it warns that we aren’t practically prepared sufficient.
View from WHO
When requested whether or not the world was higher ready for the subsequent pandemic, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned just lately: “Yes and no.”
“If the next pandemic arrived today, the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities,” he warned.
“But the world has also learned many of the painful lessons the pandemic taught us and has taken significant steps to strengthen its defenses.”
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director, mentioned it was a matter of when, not if, we are going to face one other pandemic.
“A lot has improved because of the 2009 (H1N1) flu pandemic but also because of COVID-19. But I think the world is not ready for another infectious disease massive outbreak or pandemic.”
Expert views
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, created by the WHO, was blunt in its evaluation.
“In 2025, the world is not ready to tackle another pandemic threat,” it mentioned, citing continued inequality in entry to funding and pandemic-fighting instruments like vaccines.
Renowned Dutch virologist Marion Koopmans advised Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the success and speedy manufacturing of mRNA vaccines have been a “game changer” for the subsequent pandemic.
However, she warned that “a seeming increase in vaccine hesitancy,” amid “staggering” ranges of disinformation, meant that if one other pandemic arrived quickly, “we would have major issues with the use of vaccines because of that.”
Meg Schaeffer, a illness epidemiologist on the U.S.-based SAS Institute, mentioned it will take public well being businesses 4 to 5 years to improve their methods to detect and share info sooner.
“No, I don’t think that we’re any more prepared than we were with COVID-19,” she mentioned.
However, “I do have confidence that we as a society know what to do to protect each other” by means of distancing, facemasks, and limiting journey and private interactions, she added.
Mitigation efforts
Steps have been taken to organize for the subsequent pandemic and deal with its affect.
The new WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin works on collaborative surveillance to higher detect threats and mitigate them.
The World Bank’s Pandemic Fund has issued $885 million in grants since 2022 to fund practically 50 initiatives throughout 75 nations.
An mRNA expertise switch hub was arrange in South Africa to enhance native vaccine manufacturing, whereas a Global Training Hub for Bio-manufacturing was established in South Korea to enhance responses.
New international alarm button
After COVID-19 struck, the WHO, on Jan. 30, 2020, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – the very best alarm degree underneath the International Health Regulations.
But most nations didn’t jolt into motion till Tedros described the outbreak as a pandemic on March 11 that yr.
To handle this, the well being rules have been amended final June to incorporate a brand new, greater “pandemic emergency” degree of alarm, requiring nations to take “rapid” coordinated motion.
Pandemic treaty
In December 2021, nations determined to start out drafting an accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response to assist avert a repeat of the failings uncovered by COVID-19.
After quite a few negotiation rounds, the WHO’s 194 member states have broadly agreed on what to incorporate, however there are a number of remaining sticking factors.
A key fault line lies between Western nations with main pharmaceutical trade sectors and poorer nations cautious of once more being sidelined.
One excellent challenge is the proposed obligation to shortly share rising pathogens and the pandemic-fighting advantages derived from them, like vaccines.
The deadline for reaching a deal has been pushed again a yr to May 2025.
Looking for subsequent threats
Global consultants have been working laborious to find out the place the subsequent pandemic menace will come from.
Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, advised AFP the potential of an H5N1 chicken flu pandemic ought to be taken “very seriously.”
The WHO tasked greater than 200 impartial scientists to guage 1,652 pathogens, largely viruses. They recognized greater than 30 precedence pathogens.
Among them have been people who trigger COVID-19, Ebola and Marburg, Lassa fever, MERS, SARS and Zika.
Also on the record is “Disease X” – a placeholder for a pathogen presently unknown to trigger human illness.
The present plans goal to amass broad data, instruments and countermeasures that may very well be quickly tailored to rising threats.
Source: www.dailysabah.com