Pandemic preparedness is fracturing now
Annalies Winny, 2023 – Interview with Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations
“We Know How to Prevent the Next Pandemic—But It’s Easier Said Than Done” Global Health Now, 10/27, //DH
Where does the world currently stand in terms of achieving pandemic preparedness?
Yanzhong Huang: There have been important strides. There’s the pandemic preparedness treaty currently in the works, the building of a pandemic intelligence hub in Berlin, a new pandemic fund at the World Bank, and the 100 Days Mission to come up with a vaccine within 100 days of discovering a novel pathogen.
But at the same time, international society seems to have become even less cooperative than before the COVID-19 pandemic, in preparing for the next one.
Why is that?
Yanzhong Huang: With the acute phase of COVID-19 over, psychologically people just want to end this traumatic chapter.
And in the meantime, we have all the other things that need to be prioritized: The crisis in Ukraine, inflation, recession, climate issues, and now, of course, the conflict the Middle East. All of this makes talking about preparing for next pandemic so unpopular—even though we are desperately not ready for the next pandemic. We could repeat the same experience we had with COVID-19.