Using a single death of a Cambodian girl from bird flu as an example, two writers for STAT News have laid out a clear path to the next pandemic: H5N1, or the transfer of a bird disease to humans.

Worrying whether the world will be prepared and whether a vaccine can get churned out in only a few months, former HHS assistant secretary Robert Kadlec and Enlli Lewis, regulatory policy and research coordinator at 1Day Sooner, insist that instead of waiting to see if such a thing will happen, health leaders need to “develop an Office of Preparedness and Response to support the development and eventual authorization of medical countermeasures, particularly vaccines, to protect Americans against future outbreaks” right away.

“The U.S.’s usual, reactive approach to disease — wait for it to spring up before starting the work — is not a sustainable model,” they say.

Their proposal, then, is to establish the office, begin research for a bird flu pandemic now, and (of course) focus on the development of an H5N1-based mRNA vaccine. To facilitate this the new Office of Preparedness and Response would be granted $15 million and 25 full-time staff to begin the work.

SOURCE:

STAT News March 30, 2023