Epidemic preparedness: No template

WITH the World Health Organisation saying that the end of the Covid pandemic is within sight and most anti-pandemic measures globally having been terminated, it’s a good time to consider what has been learned from the experience and how well prepared the world might be if it has to face another epidemic in the near future.

One obvious outcome of the pandemic has been that the great majority of people no longer need to be convinced that catastrophic disease outbreaks are possible, that they can do great damage and that it’s not worth spending money on pandemic preparedness; despite the advice of scientific specialists, this was not the case before Covid-19 struck. There was neither the public awareness nor political will to prepare for something that seemed like a remote possibility – the stuff of film fiction.

Much has been learned about vaccine development, how the process of approval can be speeded up when necessary and how to ramp up production to deliver vaccines in massive quantities. When there is any further epidemic, this experience should prove its value.