Pandemic Watch News Brief: The news you need to know

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AVAC's weekly Pandemic Watch is a curated news digest on the latest pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR) news and resources.
“Negotiations on a global pandemic treaty are on course to the lowest common denominator…. With countries facing off over intellectual property rights and the rules around sharing medical products developed during a pandemic, a compromise with any substance looks increasingly difficult to reach.”
-- Ashleigh Furlong in Politico ([link removed])


** Table of Contents
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* If You Are in a Hurry (#If You Are in a Hurry)
* Planning for Equitable Access to Pandemic Medical Products (#Planning for Equitable Access to Pandemic Medical Products)
* Funding the WHO (#Funding the WHO)
* Planning for Climate-Fueled Health Disasters (#Planning for Climate-Fueled Health Disasters)
* New Pathogen Surveillance Network Launched (#New Pathogen Surveillance Network Launched)
* Pandemic Preparedness and Response in a “Chaotic Landscape of Geopolitical Chess” (#Pandemic Preparedness and Response in a “Chaotic Landscape of Geopolitical Chess”)
* Two Doses of Mpox Jab Better Than One (#Two Doses of Mpox Jab Better Than One)
* Bird Flu in Brazil (#Bird Flu in Brazil)
* New Vaccines and a New COVID-19 Wave in China (#New Vaccines and a New COVID-19 Wave in China)
* COVID-19 Boosters Not Linked to Miscarriages (#CCOVID-19 Boosters Not Linked to Miscarriages)
* Rising Rates of Dengue (#Rising Rates of Dengue)
* Maternal RSV Vaccine Moves Closer to Approval in US (#Maternal RSV Vaccine Moves Closer to Approval in US)
* UK COVID-19 Vaccine Decisions “Neo-colonial” (#UK COVID-19 Vaccine Decisions “Neo-colonial”)
* Preventing Viral Spillovers (#Preventing Viral Spillovers)
* New COVID-19 Vaccines Should Target Only XBB (#New COVID-19 Vaccines Should Target Only XBB)

At the World Health Assembly in Geneva this week WHO’s Tedros sparked a wave of headlines noting his warning that the world should prepare for a disease more deadly than COVID-19. The Independent ([link removed]) (UK) reports Tedros, “told [WHO’s] annual health assembly in Geneva that it was time to advance negotiations on preventing the next pandemic. He warned that nation states cannot ‘kick this can down the road’ and that the next global disease was bound to ‘come knocking’…. He added: ‘The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains. And the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.’”

These remarks come as the first edits ([link removed]) to the global Pandemic Accord were released. Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “The European Union, which proposed the accord, is seen as its biggest backer. Developing countries, especially in Africa, are keen to use the negotiations to secure better access to vaccines, following allegations of ‘vaccine apartheid’ from the WHO's Director-General Tedros. After five rounds of formal negotiations, the latest 208-page draft of the treaty still includes thousands of brackets, which mark areas of disagreement or undecided language, including over the definition of the word ‘pandemic’. With so many member countries involved, securing agreement may be tricky.”

Professor Suerie Moon of the Geneva Graduate Institute in a Twitter thread ([link removed]) called the new draft “hugely disappointing,” noting the draft includes, “Weaker language all around: 47 appearances of ‘as appropriate’ which is code for ‘if you feel like it’, Weaker language on financing, Weaker language on trade restrictions, Heavy reliance on info transparency, experts and soft norms. Which COVID-19 proved doesn't work in crises.”

Politico ([link removed]) (US) reports “Negotiations on a global pandemic treaty are on course to the lowest common denominator…. With countries facing off over intellectual property rights and the rules around sharing medical products developed during a pandemic, a compromise with any substance looks increasingly difficult to reach.”



** If You Are in a Hurry
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* Read Devex ([link removed]) on plans for a platform to coordinate access to pandemic medical products.
* Read an opinion piece by WHO’s Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu on the need for pathogen genomic surveillance in Devex ([link removed]) .
* Listen to A Shot in The Arm Podcast ([link removed]) about funding WHO.
* Read health policy expert Clare Wenham in PLOS Global Public Health ([link removed]) on the proliferation of pandemic institutions.
* Read South China Morning Post ([link removed]) on new COVID-19 vaccines in China and Bloomberg ([link removed]) on a rising COVID-19 wave in the country.
* Read Pro Publica ([link removed]) on vital work to prevent viral spillover from animals to humans.
* Read STAT ([link removed]) on a US FDA advisory committee backing of a maternal RSV vaccine.




** Planning for Equitable Access to Pandemic Medical Products
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Devex ([link removed]) (US) reports WHO-led “discussions of how to ensure equitable access to medical products during future pandemics have been happening for months,” with plans for a platform “ready to coordinate access to lifesaving medical products… ready before the next pandemic hits. “But there remain questions on the governance, functions and focus of the platform. It also faces a legitimacy question — who gives it the mandate to function. Some are also concerned it may end up similar to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, or ACT-A, the multilateral initiative launched during the COVID-19 pandemic that had big ambitions to ensure equitable access but struggled to meet them.” AVAC’s Samantha Rick is quoted: “The platform must grapple with issues of licensing and technology transfer to be successful. While the [medical countermeasures] platform wouldn’t have the authority to make decisions in these are
as, it can leverage its expertise to provide guidance and inform evidence-based actions.”



** Funding the WHO
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In A Shot in The Arm Podcast ([link removed]) (US) broadcasting from the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, host Ben Plumley, Global Health Council’s Elisha Dunn-Georgiou and AVAC’s Mitchell Warren discuss the latest on funding the WHO. Warren notes, "As advocates, we will always want to advocate for a fully funded global health response and this is not fully funded, but a 20 percent increase in the current economic environment is a step forward, and separate from the amount of money it sends a signal that people are beginning to have the confidence that WHO is an essential actor and needs to be funded to perform those essential roles.”


**
Planning for Climate-Fueled Health Disasters
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Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) via Japan Times reports, “Governments are increasingly focusing on health risks fueled by global warming, with most nations now considering concerns from malaria to heart disease in their climate plans [according to WHO data].” Maria Neira, WHO director for public health and environment is quoted: “Climate change will fuel all the possible health disasters that we’re expecting. We need to make sure that we have health systems fit for the 21st century. We need to change the narrative (on climate change). Until now, we have been concentrating too much on glaciers, the next generation and the planet.”



** New Pathogen Surveillance Network Launched
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In a press release, ([link removed]) WHO announced the launch of “a global network to help protect people from infectious disease threats through the power of pathogen genomics. The International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) will provide a platform to connect countries and regions, improving systems for collecting and analyzing samples, using these data to drive public health decision-making, and sharing that information more broadly.” WHO’s Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu writes in a Devex ([link removed]) (US) opinion piece, “Pathogen genomic surveillance, or PGS…. Is a critical tool for the management of threats to public health. Without the rapid sequencing, analysis, and sharing of the genomic data of COVID-19, we would not have been able to develop vaccines as quickly as we did; neither would we
have been able to develop therapeutics that were adapted to successive variants as they emerged…. Investing in PGS is an investment in the future of health systems. Robust PGS ensures that we can respond to outbreaks with vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics that are as effective as possible; that treatments are tailored to the requirements of patients; and that public health decision making is supported by the best possible evidence, especially for new and emerging threats.”



** Pandemic Preparedness and Response in a “Chaotic Landscape of Geopolitical Chess”
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LSE health policy expert Clare Wenham headlines a commentary in PLOS Global Public Health ([link removed]) (US): “Creating more and more new institutions may not make the world safer from pandemics.” She argues, “The absurdity of many these numerous new institutions for health security is that they are all ostensibly seeking to do the same thing: to make the world more prepared for a future health emergency, and mitigate its effects it if does emerge. Moreover, many of them have the very same membership, whether as a group of individuals or as member states that negotiate the governance, finances, mandate and policies. So why do we see this proliferation of actors if they are the same people, considering the same issues, mostly in the same city? This is not by accident, but reflects the very real political game playing that occurs within multilateralism…. Yet, we must recognise that multiple competing processes will not
leave the world safer from the threat of pandemics, but will create a patchwork of semi-aligned institutions and policies which will likely lead to greater fragmentation both within the health sector, and geopolitically. The problem is what to do about it: governments will be governments, and will not simply coordinate and offer equitable solutions because those working in public health think it’s best. We must recognise such political game playing, and develop strategies to work amid these institutional developments, rather than pretend it is not happening.”



** Two Doses of Mpox Jab Better Than One
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CNN ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Amid growing concern that the United States could face a rise in mpox cases this summer, three new studies show that two doses of the Jynneos mpox vaccine are much more effective than just one. ‘Vaccine effectiveness estimates from these studies ranged from 36 percent to 75 percent for one dose and 66 percent to 86 percent for two doses of Jynneos vaccine,’ Dr. Christopher Braden, mpox response incident manager at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a telebriefing.…”



** Bird Flu in Brazil
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BBC ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Brazil has declared a six-month animal health emergency after several cases of avian flu were found in wild birds…. The emergency declaration makes it easier for the government to now bring in measures to stop the highly infectious H5N1 virus from spreading…. The world has been going through its worst ever outbreak of bird flu since October 2021, causing the deaths of more wild birds than ever before. Some mammals are also catching the disease. Scientists remain unsure why this outbreak is proving so much worse than others, but the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has reported ‘devastating impacts on animal health and welfare’.”



** New Vaccines and a New COVID-19 Wave in China
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South China Morning Post ([link removed]) (Hong Kong) reports, “China will soon have two new vaccines to target the most dominant strains of COVID-19 in the country, according to Zhong Nanshan, one of the nation’s top respiratory disease experts…. [V]accines targeting Omicron subvariants had received preliminary approval and were expected to be available soon. As many as four other new vaccines were also expected to be approved soon…”

Bloomberg ([link removed]) (US) reports, “China is likely to see its COVID-19 wave peaking at about 65 million infections a week toward the end of June, according to a senior health adviser, while authorities rush to bolster their vaccine arsenal to target the latest omicron variants. XBB has been fueling a resurgence in cases across China since late April and is expected to result in 40 million infections a week by the end of May, before peaking at 65 million a month later.…”



** COVID-19 Boosters Not Linked to Miscarriages
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CIDRAP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “In JAMA Network Open, HealthPartners Institute researchers looking at a database of more than 100,000 US pregnancies found no link ([link removed]) between administration of monovalent COVID-19 booster vaccine shots and miscarriage before 20 weeks of pregnancy.” Study author Malini DeSilva is quoted: "We continue to find that COVID-19 vaccinations in pregnancy are safe. Ongoing vaccine surveillance work is important because it provides reassurance and helps people feel confident in their vaccinations."



** Rising Rates of Dengue
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The Washington Post ([link removed]) (US) reports, “In an article ([link removed]) this month in JAMA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers in Puerto Rico say the [dengue] virus must be better controlled in US territories…. Between 2010 and 2020, the CDC logged nearly 31,000 dengue cases in US territories. Over 96 percent of these occurred in Puerto Rico…. Vaccines and mosquito modification could help reduce dengue. Meanwhile, “there is new reason for hope” because of better surveillance systems and physician education that has already reduced dengue deaths, researchers write.”

Vox ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Dengue has been around since at least the 17th century, but cases of the infection skyrocketed in the last two decades — from only a little over 505,000 cases in 2000, to 5.2 million cases in 2019. Today, half the world’s population — who live in areas where Dengue-carrying mosquitoes are prevalent — is at risk of the illness. While dengue is already endemic in 100 countries, new regions are reporting cases of the virus every year, thanks to travel, trade, urbanization, and climate change expanding the range of the mosquitoes that transmit dengue…. As the world turns its attention away from COVID-19, it’s important that scientists and policymakers continue to make progress — through vaccines and other more experimental methods — on long-existing diseases that continue to incapacitate and kill many people, especially the poor. And when it comes to dengue fever, vaccine
manufacturers and public health leaders need to learn from past mistakes to ensure faith in these interventions does not wane.



** Maternal RSV Vaccine Moves Closer to Approval in US
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STAT ([link removed]) (US) reports, “A committee of vaccine experts voted to recommend the Food and Drug Administration approve Pfizer’s maternal RSV vaccine on Thursday, though the panel expressed some safety concerns…. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 14-0 that Pfizer’s data showed the vaccine was effective in preventing severe disease in infants born to people who were vaccinated during pregnancy. But on a second question — whether the available data support the safety of immunization with this vaccine — the committee voted 10-4…. The FDA does not have to follow VRBPAC’s advice, but it commonly does. The agency is expected to make a decision before or in August.”



** UK COVID-19 Vaccine Decisions “Neo-colonial”
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Devex ([link removed]) (US) reports, “The UK government ‘failed people’ in lower-income countries by not requiring drug companies to distribute vital COVID-19 treatments developed with £1.5 billion (about $1.8 billion) of public money, a highly critical new report argues. The firms were able to ‘limit supply and charge high prices’ because ministers did not impose ‘public interest conditions’ — an approach described as ‘neo-colonial’ by the campaign groups STOPAIDS and Just Treatment. Their report finds high-income nations then bought up diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics at high monopoly prices, while low- and middle-income countries were starved of the treatments when the pandemic struck…. At the start of January 2022, 90.1 percent of the UK population had received at least a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine — and almost 60 percent had received a booster — yet just 7.6 percent of people in
low-income nations had received a first dose, the groups say.” Read thereport ([link removed]) .



** Preventing Viral Spillovers
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The latest in Pro Publica’s ([link removed]) (US) series ([link removed]) on animal to human spillover of viruses looks at a successful program to predict, and possibly prevent, Hendra virus spillover from bats, profiling the work of wildlife ecologist Peggy Eby. “Novel infectious diseases will keep coming at us, Eby warns. Investing in scientific work like hers ‘seems like a poor approach now,’ she said, ‘but 20 years from now, we’ll look back and wonder why we didn’t do it.”



** New COVID-19 Vaccines Should Target Only XBB
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Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) via Medscape reports, “A World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group on Thursday recommended that this year's COVID-19 booster shots be updated to target one of the currently dominant XBB variants…. The group suggested no longer including the original COVID-19 strain in future vaccines, based on data that the original virus no longer circulates in human beings and shots targeting the strain produce ‘undetectable or very low levels of neutralizing antibodies’ against currently circulating variants.”
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