BiosafetyExperts criticize lack of flu pandemic readiness, commitment
Armed with 1940s-vintage flu vaccine technology and supported by only anemic funding for developing truly revolutionary vaccines, the world is woefully unprepared for the next influenza pandemic, and the Trump administration is ignoring the problem, two experts wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece. “There is no apparent effort to make [next-generation flu] vaccines a priority in the current administration. Its national security strategy published last month cites Ebola and SARS as potential bioterrorism and pandemic threats, yet makes no mention of the risk of pandemic influenza nor any aspect of critical vaccine research and development,” the two experts write.
Armed with 1940s-vintage flu vaccine technology and supported by only anemic funding for developing truly revolutionary vaccines, the world is woefully unprepared for the next influenza pandemic, and the Trump administration is ignoring the problem, two experts wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece.
“There is no apparent effort to make [next-generation flu] vaccines a priority in the current administration. Its national security strategy published last month cites Ebola and SARS as potential bioterrorism and pandemic threats, yet makes no mention of the risk of pandemic influenza nor any aspect of critical vaccine research and development,” write infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm and his book coauthor Mark Olshaker.
Osterholm is director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), which publishes CIDRAP News. He and Olshaker last year wrote Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs (2017), which details the most pressing public health threats and includes a nine-point action plan.
The urgency expressed in the commentary was echoed by other experts.
“Worst-case scenario”
In their op-ed piece, Osterholm and Olshaker point out that the infamous “Spanish flu” pandemic of 1918-19 killed 50 million to 100 million people worldwide—at a time when the globe held only a quarter of the population it now houses.
In addition, the current flu season demonstrates how disruptive even everyday seasonal flu can be.
“The next few weeks,” the two write, “will highlight how ill prepared we are for even ‘ordinary’ flu. A worldwide influenza pandemic is literally the worst-case scenario in public health.”
Amesh Adalja, senior scholar with the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, concurs.
“The difficulties currently being experienced in handling a predictable rougher-than-usual flu season should be a wake-up call to all that we will be greatly underprepared for the infectious disease emergencies we are certain to face in the years ahead,” he told CIDRAP News.
