Pandemic Watch News Brief: The news you need to know

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
AVAC's weekly Pandemic Watch is a curated news digest on the latest pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR) news and resources.
"The next pandemic could already be among us and climate change means no country is safe…. Are we in a little bit of a danger of kind of fighting the last war, assuming the next threat is going to be like the one we've just experienced, when the next health crisis could actually be the impact of climate change fueling existing diseases, as opposed to some new disease X?"
-- Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund in Politico ([link removed])


** Table of Contents
------------------------------------------------------------

* If You Are in a Hurry (#If You Are in a Hurry)
* COVID-19 Outbreak at US CDC Conference; Community Tracking Ending (#COVID-19 Outbreak at US CDC Conference; Community Tracking Ending)
* COVID-19 Data Still Needed (#COVID-19 Data Still Needed)
* A Call for African Inclusion in Global Health Institutions (#A Call for African Inclusion in Global Health Institutions)
* WHO Calls for Continued Vigilance for Mpox (#WHO Calls for Continued Vigilance for Mpox)
* WHO’s Pandemic Accord Does NOT Threaten Sovereignty (#WHO’s Pandemic Accord Does NOT Threaten Sovereignty)
* European CDC Draws Lessons from COVID-19 (#European CDC Draws Lessons from COVID-19)
* Europe Set to Approve One RSV Vaccine; Access to Another in Poor Countries at Risk (#Europe Set to Approve One RSV Vaccine; Access to Another in Poor Countries at Risk)
* Women Shortchanged in Pandemic Publishing (#Women Shortchanged in Pandemic Publishing)
* Hype or Hope for Nasal COVID-19 Vaccines? (#Hype or Hope for Nasal COVID-19 Vaccines?)
* The Potential Future of Long COVID (#The Potential Future of Long COVID)
* Equitable Financing of Pandemics (#Equitable Financing of Pandemics)

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned global attention to health systems and raised calls for building more sustainable health systems to prepare for the next disease outbreak or pandemic. But it is not only disease outbreaks that threaten health systems. As Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera writes in the Daily Telegraph ([link removed]) (UK), climate change increasingly impacts health and health systems. He asks: “how can we secure our future development, and in particular the development of our health system, against ever-threatening climate disasters? Building a resilient and sustainable health system is a painstaking effort, accompanied by many setbacks – but it is the only way we can secure the health of our people. A health system in Africa must be resilient to survive climate disasters and pandemics, and sustainable too; we must be able to run it in the long-term and rely on it at
times of great demand.”

And climate change isn’t just affecting health systems, it is speeding the spread of some disease. A GAVI blog post ([link removed]) reports that one in two people on earth are now at risk for dengue fever. “Climate change means that mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, chikungunya and dengue are on the rise in Europe. As the planet warms, diseases that were once restricted to the tropics are now spreading worldwide.” A Bloomberg ([link removed]) (US) opinion piece notes, “It’s not just mosquitos that are enjoying the warmer temperatures, but a whole host of disease-spreading vectors, including ticks (which carry encephalitis and Lyme disease) and even freshwater snails (schistosomiasis). Higher temperatures and increased humidity and rainfall boost the biting proclivities,
reproductive rates and spatial distribution of these hosts.”

Politico ([link removed]) (US) reports, “The next pandemic could already be among us and climate change means no country is safe, said Peter Sands, head of the Global Fund…. ‘Are we in a little bit of a danger of kind of fighting the last war, assuming the next threat is going to be like the one we've just experienced, when the next health crisis could actually be the impact of climate change fueling existing diseases, as opposed to some new disease X?’ asked Sands…. ‘Unfortunately, we tend to treat a pandemic as things that threaten those of us who are lucky enough to live in rich countries,” said Sands. But with 2021 seeing 247 million cases of malaria in 84 countries where malaria is endemic, “it feels a bit like a pandemic,’ he said.”



** If You Are in a Hurry
------------------------------------------------------------

* Read The Washington Post ([link removed]) about an outbreak of COVID-19 at a CDC conference that was looking at COVID-19 surveillance.
* Then read Smithsonian Magazine ([link removed]) about CDC ending community tracking in the US.
* Read Peter Yeo and Mark Dybul in Health Affairs ([link removed]) on what the WHO Pandemic Accord will really do (Spoiler: it’s not overturn US sovereignty).
* Read Reuters ([link removed]) on why an RSV vaccine is likely to be available in the US and Europe in the next few months, but poor countries will likely have to wait years for it.
* Read BMJ ([link removed]) on the gender gap in pandemic publishing.
* Read Your Local Epidemiologist Blog ([link removed]) on mucosal vaccines – hype or hope?
* Read a call to include the Africa CDC in governance of the Pandemic Fund in Lancet ([link removed](23)00567-6/fulltext#%20) .




** COVID-19 Outbreak at US CDC Conference; Community Tracking Ending
------------------------------------------------------------

As the US winds down the COVID-19 emergency which brings an end to much of the disease reporting, free testing and vaccines from the government as well as most mandates for vaccines and masking, The Washington Post ([link removed]) (US) reports that the CDC is “probing a new outbreak: the roughly three-dozen coronavirus cases linked to their own annual conference last week…. Attendees said many people at the gathering did not mask, socially distance or take other precautions that the CDC had recommended earlier in the pandemic…. Experts said an outbreak of coronavirus cases at a CDC conference — the first time the meeting of disease detectives was held in person in four years — illustrates the persistence of an evolving virus. The four-day conference for epidemic intelligence service officers and alumni, held near CDC headquarters in Atlanta last week, drew about 2,000 attendees who were likely to be fully vaccinated.”

This news comes as Smithsonian Magazine ([link removed]) (US) reports the CDC, “will soon stop tracking the spread of COVID-19 at the community level…. Since February 2022, the CDC has reported community spread through its COVID-19 by County tool, which is meant to help people decide which precautions they might take to prevent transmission of the virus. A color-coded system indicates whether a county currently has a high, medium or low level of spread based on hospitalizations and case numbers in that area. Once this tool is eliminated, the agency will continue to monitor cases of the virus through hospitalizations and wastewater testing. Since people can test positive and be contagious before being hospitalized, this indicator will give more delayed notice about an increase in cases than test data would.”



** COVID-19 Data Still Needed
------------------------------------------------------------

Early in the COIVD-19 pandemic, a group of researchers at Johns Hopkins University began to track available data from the pandemic and share it through an online dashboard. Now four of that group write in a New York Times ([link removed]) guest essay, “The four of us spent the last three years immersed in collecting and reporting data on COVID-19 from every corner of the world, building one of the most trusted sources of information on cases and deaths available anywhere. But we stopped in March, not because the pandemic is over (it isn’t ([link removed]) ), but because much of the vital public health information we need is no longer available.” They argue, “This is a dangerous turn for public health. The data on cases and deaths is critical for tracking and fighting the coronavirus, which has killed more than 1.1 million people in the United States and nearly 6.9 million worldwide.” But their
project is unable to get the data needed to track the pandemic because it is not being reported frequently enough to see trends or detect outbreaks. They call for a comprehensive plan to ensure data is available for future outbreaks or pandemics in a timely manner, concluding, “We can’t afford to neglect our public health systems any longer. Panic is not the way we should respond to our next health crisis. We should be ready to take on what comes.”



** A Call for African Inclusion in Global Health Institutions
------------------------------------------------------------

Ahmed Ogwell Ouma who has just stepped down as acting director of Africa CDC writes for Project Syndicate ([link removed]) (US): Though pandemic preparedness requires global collaboration, Africa’s interests historically have been sidelined. Genuine inclusion of African voices in policy deliberations, especially early in the process, is the only way to establish common positions that do not leave the Global South to fend for itself…. While COVID-19 demonstrated the Africa CDC’s ability to marshal a well-coordinated response, it also revealed that promises and pledges from foreign partners do not always translate into meaningful support. Guided by the New Public Health Order, the Africa CDC’s latest health-security agenda, and the need to correct imbalances and make our public-health systems more self-sufficient, we will continue to amplify voices from
the continent and champion partnerships between African institutions and like-minded global actors. We are committed to playing our role in ensuring that Africa is part of an inclusive global health system and is represented at forums that impact global health security. The next serious disease outbreak is just around the corner, and it is up to us to be ready.”



** WHO Calls for Continued Vigilance for Mpox
------------------------------------------------------------

A WHO Europe press release ([link removed]) says, “As we approach the 1-year mark since an atypical outbreak of mpox (monkeypox) was declared in the WHO European Region (May 2022), there is much cause for optimism: after a rapid rise and peak of case numbers in mid-July 2022, there has been a sustained reduction in cases ever since…. There is much to celebrate in the reduced spread of mpox. However, as Member States transition out of the emergency phase of the outbreak, what will happen next is uncertain…. The risk of a resurgence in previously affected groups could also be compounded by the large international festivals set to take place this spring and summer, where sexual activity is likely. The need for continued vigilance is therefore imperative.”

Aljazeera ([link removed]) (Qatar) reports, “Pakistani health authorities have confirmed the first case of mpox in the country.” Taipei Times ([link removed]) (Taiwan) reports, “Mpox is spreading in Taiwan, as its effective reproductive number (Rt) is about 1.1, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, adding that the CDC aims to have vaccinated about 30,000 people against mpox by the middle of next month. Since mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, was listed as a Category 2 notifiable communicable disease on June 23 last year, a total of 52 cases had been reported in Taiwan as of Wednesday, CDC data showed.” Korea Times ([link removed]) (South Korea) reports, “Korea confirmed six more case of mpox Monday, bringing the country's total to 47, health authorities said.”

CBS News ([link removed]) (US) reports, “For the first time since the first American cases were reported last year, the United States has tallied no new cases of mpox for more than a week, according to figures published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The milestone comes after cases of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, had begun to slow last year off a summer peak of nearly 500 infections daily around the country. It is unclear how many weeks of no new cases are needed until the outbreak can be declared officially over in the US The Biden administration moved late last year to end the public health emergency it had declared for mpox, when cases were averaging 16 per day.”



** WHO’s Pandemic Accord Does NOT Threaten Sovereignty
------------------------------------------------------------

Peter Yeo and Mark Dybul write in Health Affairs ([link removed]) (US), “In recent weeks, a proposed international agreement [WHO’s Pandemic Accord] to improve how the world responds to future pandemics has stoked the spread of misinformation…. vocal minorities have taken to airwaves and social feeds to foment skepticism about what a potential accord may offer, claiming the WHO will force the US to sacrifice our sovereignty. These actors from the political fringes may be small in numbers, but their unfounded assertions seem to be finding a foothold in more mainstream media settings, causing otherwise sound negotiations to get swept up in a melee of misrepresentation. Fact is, this new framework isn’t out to usurp the sovereignty of any nation. Rather, the WHO-coordinated agreement to prevent and respond to future disease outbreaks is poised to assert US global leadership and strengthen our own
domestic preparedness infrastructure.”



** European CDC Draws Lessons from COVID-19
------------------------------------------------------------

DW ([link removed]) (Germany) reports, “The EU health authority said it had identified four areas where lessons had been learned. These areas included investment in public health, preparation for the next health crisis, risk communication and community engagement and Collection and analysis of data and evidence. ‘The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us valuable lessons, and it is important to review and assess our actions to determine what worked and what didn't,’ said ECDC Director Andrea Ammon.” Read the report. ([link removed])



** Europe Set to Approve One RSV Vaccine; Access to Another in Poor Countries at Risk
------------------------------------------------------------

Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports The European Medicines Agency recommended authorization of GSK’s RSV vaccine for adults 60 and older, “putting Europe on track to approve the world's first such vaccine…. The EU regulator's recommendation is based on late-stage study data showing GSK's vaccine was 82.6 percent effective in preventing lower respiratory tract disease study in older adults. The trial, of about 25,000 adults aged 60 and over, showed the vaccine was 94.1 percent effective against severe lower respiratory tract disease associated with an RSV infection.”

In related news, Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Pfizer Inc has pledged to deliver critical new medicines more quickly in low-income nations, but its first such vaccine effort faces hurdles likely to delay distribution in poorer countries by several years, global health officials told Reuters.” The vaccine is set to be approved in the US and Europe later this year. “But the vaccine will need a different delivery system to be used in developing countries in Africa and Asia, including alternative packaging and syringes. Preparations for those modifications are just beginning, according to the World Health Organization and the company - which is likely to push back delivery by several years. The case highlights how equitable global access will require better advance planning by drugmakers, governments and health organizations, health officials say.”



** Women Shortchanged in Pandemic Publishing
------------------------------------------------------------

BMJ ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “When laboratories, operating rooms, and clinical trial sites worldwide closed because of national lockdowns, millions of people working in science found an opportunity to write…. Clinicians and academics were eager to secure authorships. But the COVID-19 publishing game had by no means an equal playing field. Of the three million submissions to major health and medical journals in the first half of 2020, just 36 percent were from women…. Rebecca Cooney, North American editor of the Lancet during COVID-19, says that this was ‘another unanticipated blow dealt by the pandemic—that despite decades of progress we were sifting through a virtual wave of misogyny. Men had somehow been able to use this catastrophe as a means to find the time to write up virtually anything, while women were simply unable to.’ At the same time that men were benefiting from covid opportunities, women were shouldering the domestic burden imposed on them. This
was particularly brutal if they had small children and during early lockdowns, when schools and day care centres closed and researchers were working from home, where male faculty members were already four times more likely than women to have a partner doing full time domestic care.”



** Hype or Hope for Nasal COVID-19 Vaccines?
------------------------------------------------------------

Your Local Epidemiologist Blog ([link removed]) looks at the challenges and promises of nasal COVID-19 vaccines: “Five billion dollars was just allocated to Operation Next Gen with one goal: speed the creation of next-generation COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, including nasal (mucosal) vaccines…. But it’s going to be a hard road…. Mucosal vaccines, like ones administered in the nose, stimulate an immune response at the same portal the virus uses to enter our body—the upper respiratory tract (nose, tonsils, etc.). In theory, this would make them better at reducing transmission and preventing infections than a vaccine that is injected…. But there are some major scientific barriers that we need to overcome before we all get a nasal COVID-19 vaccine…. While a mucosal vaccine may help, there’s a lot of uncertainty. We shouldn’t oversell the potential but recognize the real challenges and cheer on the scientists who are trying
to figure them out. Operation Next Gen should help move mountains, but time will tell.”



** The Potential Future of Long COVID
------------------------------------------------------------

Salon ([link removed]) (US) reports, “what we think of as long COVID is not necessarily a novel condition, but merely one more instance of the medical aftermath that accompanies certain infections. The medical establishment calls this condition post-acute infection syndrome (PAIS). Back in 1918, these mysteriously persistent long flu symptoms wreaked havoc on human health and local economies. For example, many claim that debilitating lethargy caused by this post-viral syndrome led to the "famine of corms ([link removed]) " in the region that is Tanzania today, as farmers lacked the energy to plant, harvest, and shear months after getting sick…. According to a study ([link removed]) published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine, post-acute infection syndrome is associated with a number of infections, including Epstein Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, Lyme disease, Q fever, West Nile
virus, Dengue fever, and the aforementioned influenza. Often presenting well after the initial infection, post-acute infection syndrome manifests as a complex and variable disorder, typically entailing severe fatigue, gastrointestinal issues, confused sensory perception, and neurocognitive abnormalities…. Years into our current pandemic, we now have a plethora of information suggesting that COVID-19 is the latest addition to the list of infections spawning post-acute infection syndrome; that is, ‘long COVID.’"



** Equitable Financing of Pandemics
------------------------------------------------------------

Nelson Aghogho Evaborhene writes in Lancet ([link removed](23)00567-6/fulltext#%20) (UK), “as a call for Expressions of Interest [for the World Bank’s Pandemic Fund] begins, the 13 implementing entities approved, through which financing will be channeled to support project implementation in the chosen areas of interest, comprise mainly multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, UN Health Agencies, and several public–private partnership global health initiatives whose headquarters are predominantly located in high-income countries. These imbalances do not portend well for global public health security. Given the absence of specialised technical institutions such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that is mandated to strengthen the capacity and capability of Africa's public health institutions, as well as partnerships to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks, such a
narrow list of implementing entities for the Pandemic Fund runs roughshod over the lessons learnt in the wake of the pandemic.” He argues there is a need to center a regional organization in the Fund’s “governance and operations—such as the inclusion of Africa CDC as an implementing partner of the Pandemic Fund. Ignoring this reformation risks another failure to prevent, prepare, and respond collectively and equitably to the next pandemic.”
Got this from a friend? Subscribe here. ([link removed])

============================================================
Our mailing address is:
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])