The WHO R&D Blueprint for Epidemics is a global platform for research and development collaboration, stressing the significance of international cooperation in expediting the research and development of medical countermeasures (“MCMs”), which include vaccines. At the core of its efforts lies the concept of “pathogen prioritisation.”
Pathogen prioritisation is a process aimed at categorising pathogens according to their public health importance, antimicrobial resistance and potential for epidemic or pandemic spread.
At the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024 held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 29 – 30 July, WHO R&D Blueprint for Epidemics issued a report.
It is the result of a meeting held in May to further develop a strategy “that advocates for research spanning various pathogen families based on our existing understanding of their pandemic potential.”
According to the report, the strategy they developed “also emphasises research and development efforts aimed at readiness for both anticipated and unanticipated threats by focusing on entire families, Prototype Pathogens, and Priority Pathogens.”
Over 200 scientists from more than 50 countries collaborated on the report to evaluate the evidence related to 28 Viral Families and one core group of Bacteria, encompassing 1,652 pathogens. The epidemic and pandemic risk was determined by considering available information on transmission patterns, virulence, and availability of diagnostic tests, vaccines and treatments.
In the report, they used a metaphor of looking for lost keys under a street lamp as an “illustration of the ongoing challenges and biases in identifying the pathogen that will cause the next pandemic.”
“This metaphor highlights how
researchers and public health officials might focus their efforts on
illuminated areas where it is easiest to search, rather than where the
actual answers might lie,” the report said. “Imagine scientists and
public health officials as individuals searching for the ‘lost keys’
(the next pandemic pathogen).”...<<<Read More >>>...
