Dödligt virus från Kina orsakar panik (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19)

”Pandemin kunde ha förhindrats” Publicerat onsdag 12 maj

Om ledare och länder reagerat snabbare i början av pandemin hade dess utbredning kunna ha begränsats kraftigt – det fanns tillräckligt med varningssignaler, visar en ny rapport.

Rapporten är beställd av Världshälsoorganisationen WHO och genomförd av en oberoende panel."

"COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic

(...)it is clear that the combination of poor strategic choices, unwillingness to tackle inequalities, and an uncoordinated system created a toxic cocktail which allowed the pandemic to turn into a catastrophic human crisis.

The intention of the Panel in examining in detail the steps taken to respond to COVID-19 is not to assign blame, but rather to understand what took place and what, if anything, could be done differently if similar circumstances arise again, as they almost certainly will.

"What happened, what we’ve learned and what needs to change

4.1 Before the pandemic — the failure to take preparation seriously

In under three months from when SARS-CoV-2 was first identified as
the cause of clusters of unusual pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 had become a global pandemic threatening every country in the world (11).

Although public health officials, infectious disease experts, and previous international commissions and reviews had warned of potential pandemics and urged robust preparations since the first outbreak of SARS, COVID-19 still took large parts of the world by surprise. It should not have done.

The number of infectious disease outbreaks has been accelerating, many of which have pandemic potential.

It is clear to the Panel that the world was not prepared and had ignored warnings which resulted in a massive failure: an outbreak of SARS-COV-2 became a devastating pandemic.

(...)Since the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, at least 11 high-level panels and commissions have made specific recommendations in 16 reports to improve global pandemic preparedness.

Yet, despite the consistent messages that significant change was needed to ensure global protection against pandemic threats, the majority of recommendations were never implemented.

At best, there has been piecemeal implementation. A coalition of interests with sufficient power and momentum to achieve a package of essential reforms has never been assembled.

As a result, pandemic and other health threats have not been elevated to the same level of concern as threats of war, terrorism, nuclear disaster or global economic instability. When steps have been explicitly recommended, they have been met with indifference by Member States, resulting in weakened implementation that has severely blunted the original intentions. It is clear to the Panel that pandemics pose potential existential threats to humanity and must be elevated to the highest level.

4.2 A virus moving faster than the surveillance and alert system

The earliest possible recognition of a novel pathogen is critical to containing it. The emergence of COVID-19 was characterized by a mix of some early and rapid action, but also by delay, hesitation, and denial, with the net result that an outbreak became an epidemic and an epidemic spread to pandemic proportions.

5. Recommendations for transforming the international system for pandemic preparedness and response

There is a need for:

• Stronger leadership and better coordination at national,
regional and international level, including a more focused and independent WHO, a Pandemic Treaty, and a senior Global Health Threats Council.

• investment in preparedness now, and not when the next crisis hits, more accurate measurement of it, and accountability mechanisms to spur action;

• an improved system for surveillance and alert at a speed that can combat viruses like SARS-CoV-2, and authority given to WHO to publish information and to dispatch expert missions immediately;

• a pre-negotiated platform able to produce vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and supplies and secure their rapid and equitable delivery as essential global common goods;

• access to financial resources, both for investments in preparedness and to be able to inject funds immediately at the onset of a potential pandemic.

The Panel calls on Member States to request the United Nations Secretary-General to convene a special session of the United Nations General Assembly to reach agreement on the reforms needed to ensure that the world can prevent the next outbreak of a new pathogen becoming another pandemic."