WHO says world still unprepared for future pandemics even after COVID-19

pharmafile | May 20, 2022 | News story | Medical Communications  

An expert panel has said that the world is still not ready for future pandemics, despite having years to prepare for COVID-19.

A recent report from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, part of the WHO, claims that the world’s approach to pandemics has not changed since COVID-19 broke out in 2019.

The panel suggested in 2021 that political leadership, financing, and surveillance systems, needed to be improved.

“One year on and political focus to prepare for more waves is flagging,” the authors behind the report explained.

“Work has begun to prevent the next pandemic but at the current pace, the transformative change required will take years to complete.”

The new findings from the report found that one of the primary obstacles to pandemic preparedness was vaccine inequity. COVID-19 jabs are not being shared around the world equally, and according to the panel, high-income countries can now vaccinate their entire populations twice over with the large supply. Less than 13% of those in low-income countries are considered fully vaccinated.

As the report explained: “Variants may still emerge that our vaccines cannot manage.

“The more quickly we vaccinate now, the less likelihood there is of ever more variants emerging.”

The WHO has warned that there is a $15 billion (£12 billion) financing gap needed for the world to be more prepared to COVID-19 .

Lina Adams

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