NTI | bio virtual workshop showcases international effort to approach unknown biological threats

For two days at the end of July, NTI | bio organized a virtual workshop of more than 40 international participants to address the possibility of developing a new Joint Assessment Mechanism to plug gaps in global biosecurity laid bare by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Originally proposed by NTI (the Nuclear Threat Initiative) to investigate high-consequence biological events of unknown origin in a 2020 report, “Preventing Global Catastrophic Biological Risks,” a Joint Assessment Mechanism would provide a global cooperative means of addressing potential biothreats. The new workshop was based on this report and the idea that an internationally credible, quick, and science-based means of investigating outbreaks is necessary.

NTI is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to preventing attacks and accidents with weapons of mass destruction. Experts from public health, biosecurity, bioscience and biotechnology, non-proliferation, and international diplomacy all attended its latest offering, drawing from 19 countries. Together, they addressed the scientific, technical, and logistical requirements required for such a mechanism to effectively collect data, along with the policy and institutional hurdles that would need to be navigated for the international community to accept it.

Among other things, participants noted the importance of incorporating and building upon the existing investigatory capabilities of the World Health Organization and United Nations Secretary-General’s Mechanism. Both organizations have the authority to investigate outbreaks, though the Secretary-General’s Mechanism has the authority to investigate cases of alleged deliberate bioweapons use. Participants pointed out that gaps between the two organizations also exist and should be addressed in any future mechanism.

NTI has indicated it will take the feedback and ideas offered by the workshop and use them to refine its Joint Assessment Mechanism concept as it reaches out to the international community.