World needs swift action if it is to ready itself for next pandemic, international security organizations say

A digital report released last week by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) | bio and the Munich Security Conference (MSC) sounded the alarm in advance of the world’s next pandemic, warning that without bold action, catastrophe will likely follow.

Simply put: the world is not ready, by their assessments. Those determinations were made by 22 senior leaders in the fields of public health, biotechnology, international security and philanthropy, assembled to analyze gaps in global biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. Last year, they participated in a tabletop exercise to look at ways of improving human-caused pandemic preparedness and prevention – the fourth such series of collaborations between NTI | bio and MSC.

Together, the participants agreed that the international system of pandemic prevention, detection and response alike are not just lagging behind, but wholly inadequate, even with improvements made in the wake of COVID-19. It was deemed inadequate in terms of assessing biological events of unknown origin, incapable of coordinating national and global responses in a way that could prevent human and economic loss, and vulnerable to cybersecurity risks, all while biothreat intelligence collection and analysis capabilities have been woefully neglected.

Separately, NTI | bio recommended that the United Nations Secretary-General create a Joint Assessment Mechanism to investigate the source of outbreaks of unknown origin. It also urged the UN to create a response coordination unit to coordinate complex responses related to high-consequence biological events. Meanwhile, it added that governments, industry and the scientific community should work together to identify the highest priority cyber-security vulnerabilities and solutions to them, while governments in particular should invest in stronger biothreat intelligence capabilities.

Increased attention to the issue brought about by COVID-19 is already waning, the organizations noted. If governments, organizations and others don’t act now to prevent the next biological catastrophe and close vulnerability gaps, the next pandemic could prove even more deadly.