The global pandemic treaty is set to be voted on in the World Health Assembly in May but countries continue to negotiate language and provisions. Last week the Washington Post (US) editorial board wrote, “The biggest sticking point — one of the agreement’s most important elements — concerns critical sharing of data and samples collected on pathogens and their genetic blueprints, which can be essential for lifesaving research but which many governments are often reluctant to relinquish. To get all countries to share requires assurances that all will benefit from the resulting treatments, especially vaccines.”
The latest leaked draft “while deferring many operational issues, keeps equity hopes alive in many aspects – including by cementing in-principle agreements on a pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) system, a global supply chain and logistics network and geographically diverse ‘capacities and institutions’ for research and development, “ according to Health Policy Watch (Switzerland). Helen Clarke, former New Zeland PM tweeted, “New #pandemicaccord negotiating text is out: seems to seek to bank agreement as far as it can go now with outstanding issues to be resolved through ongoing processes. Will this approach survive the next meeting of the #INB beginning 29 April?
As the Post editorial board concludes, “The world has been warned again, and in more detail than before COVID struck. There is no excuse to remain unprepared.” We’ll know in the next few weeks what the outcome will be. Stay tuned.
If You Are in a Hurry
- Read The Telegraph on a new preprint study that raises alarm about a new lineage of the mpox virus spreading quickly in a DRC village.
- Then read a twitter thread by epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding about the preprint.
- Read an Africa CDC statement on Moderna pulling back its manufacturing facility that had been planned for Kenya.
- Read New York Times on a global cholera vaccine shortage and what’s planned to fix it.
- Read STAT on a new way to look for viruses in wastewater.
US Launches New Global Health Security Strategy
As the WHO process for a global treaty continues, the US this week announced a new Global Health Security Strategy that, according to ABC News (US), “will help 50 countries identify and respond to infectious diseases, with the goal of preventing pandemics like the COVID-19 outbreak that suddenly halted normal life around the globe in 2020. US government officials will offer support in the countries, most of them located in Africa and Asia, to develop better testing, surveillance, communication and preparedness for such outbreaks in those countries. The strategy will help ‘prevent, detect and effectively respond to biological threats wherever they emerge,’ Biden said in a statement Tuesday.”
Concern as New Mpox Lineage Discovered in DRC
A preprint paper on a newly discovered mpox lineage has sparked headlines in a number of news sources about a new “pandemic potential” strain of the virus.
CBC (Canada) reports, “A new lineage of the mpox virus linked to efficient human-to-human transmission has been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — and the researchers behind the finding are calling for swift action to ‘avert another global mpox outbreak.’… Genomic analysis of the recent Kamituga outbreak uncovered what lead researcher Dr. Placide Mbala-Kingebeni calls an ‘alarming’ finding: a new, distinct clade Ib lineage of the mpox virus featuring mutations that are a hallmark of efficient transmission between humans.”
The Telegraph (UK) reports the pre-print “which has not yet been peer-reviewed, but is being pored over by global experts – calls for ‘swift action’ from the international community if another international mpox outbreak is to be averted…. ‘Without intervention, this localised Kamituga outbreak harbors the potential to spread nationally and internationally,’ say the authors, who tracked 241 suspected and 108 confirmed cases of the new strain. ‘Given the recent history of mpox outbreaks in DRC, we advocate for swift action by endemic countries and the international community to avert another global mpox outbreak,’ they wrote.”
Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding says in a twitter thread: “there are some alarming sentences in the preprint paper and by authors because of some of the mutations, yes. And I agree it’s possible it could maybe get bad. I have no desire to gin up the alarm. I’d rather focus on the transmission data. So far I haven’t seen compellingly fast transmission data yet for this strain. And unlike Covid, we have vaccines for this. The bigger issue now is getting mpox vaccines into DRC and not just park them in the west.”
Africa CDC Blasts Moderna for Pull Back of Vaccine Facility
Last week Reuters (UK) reported, “had paused its plans to build a vaccine manufacturing facility in Kenya, following a post-pandemic decline in demand for COVID-19 vaccines. The move is in line with Moderna's strategy of resizing its manufacturing network to cut costs, even as it aims to spend around $4.5 billion this year in research and development of several new vaccines, including for cancer and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)…. Moderna's strategy is a setback to efforts in Africa to cut reliance on vaccine and drug imports from outside the continent.”
Business Daily (Kenya) reports, “In a statement released on Monday, the African CDC expressed disappointment at Moderna's move, claiming that COVID-19 vaccines were delivered to Africa late, long after they were made available to developed countries. This delay, it said, had a significant impact on the course of the pandemic and the demand for vaccines.”
The CDC statement says, “The Africa CDC recalls the considerable efforts of Africa to timely access vaccines as Member States of the Union considered vaccines as the most effective means in the pandemic response. Through its Heads of States and Government, the AU and Africa CDC called for equitable and timely access to and receipt of vaccines. A call which in many instances went unanswered by the international community and industry…. Therefore, to blame Africa and Africa CDC for lack of demand for COVID-19 vaccines and therefore the reason to put on hold plans to manufacture vaccines in Africa, only serves to perpetuate the inequity that characterized the response to the COVID–19 pandemic. While other vaccine manufacturers are progressing with their plans and construction in Africa, Moderna is abandoning a commitment to build highly needed and relevant vaccine manufacturing capabilities in Africa, in truth, demonstrating that Moderna’s commitment is in fact not to vaccine equity and access to vaccines, through building manufacturing in Africa.”
Fierce Pharma (US) reports, “The Boston-based drugmaker was widely criticized in 2021—even to the point of being fodder for late-night television hosts—for not making its COVID-19 shots readily available to poorer countries. At the time, the company said it had no intention of sharing its mRNA vaccine formula with the rest of the world. In 2021, the White House reportedly urged Moderna to license the vaccine and make the shots more available in low- and middle-income countries after the company received $1.3 billion in government funding to help develop the vaccine.”
Global Cholera Vaccine Stockpile is Empty as Cholera Cases Rise
New York Times (US) reports, “Doses of cholera vaccine are being given to patients as fast as they are produced and the global stockpile has run completely dry, as deadly outbreaks of the disease continue to spread. This does not shock anyone in the field of emergency epidemic response because the vaccine stockpile has been precariously low for years. The surprise — the good news, which is in itself surprising since ‘cholera’ and ‘good news’ are rarely used together — is that three new vaccine makers are setting up production lines and joining the effort to replenish the stockpile. And a fourth company, the only one that currently makes the vaccine, which is given orally, has been working at a pace that experts describe as “heroic” to expand its production.”
This good news for future cholera vaccines, comes as cases continue to rise in a number of countries as illustrated by a sampling of headlines below.
The New Arab (UK): Cholera spreading in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen
DW (Germany): Deadly cholera outbreak hits southern Africa
GAVI: Cholera, an old foe, is becoming a new kind of problem for Kenya
Times of India (India): Waterborne diseases on the rise
New Meningitis Vaccine Rolled Out in Nigeria
Health Policy Watch (Switzerland) reports, “Nigeria has incorporated a cutting-edge meningitis vaccine into its immunization programmes, becoming the first country on the continent to roll it out. The vaccine provides immunity against as many as five strains of deadly meningococcus bacteria… Bacterial meningitis is a leading killer of children under the age of 5, particularly in Africa, claiming 112,000 lives prematurely every year… Men5CV protects against five bacterial strains of meningitis, A, C, W, Y and X, in a single shot. Thanks to the broader protection, it offers better prospects than the current vaccine used in much of Africa, only effective against the A strain.”
New TB Treatment Rolled Out in Asia-Pacific
AFP (France) reports, “A faster and vastly more effective treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis is being rolled out in the Asia-Pacific region, raising hopes of a ‘new era’ in tackling one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases…. Now, a new drug regimen involving fewer pills and side effects is being rolled out in the Asia-Pacific, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, where trials have shown a more than 90 percent cure rate after six months.
Rebuilding Trust in Public Health
In a STAT (US) opinion Tom Frieden looks for ways to rebuild trust between communities and the public health system that was eroded during the COVID pandemic. He outlines three key actions: “improving communication; making guidance and mandates limited, appropriate, and transparent; demonstrating steady progress on health issues that matter to people… Nothing succeeds like success. Public health needs to protect and improve health — and demonstrate it is doing so — in ways people recognize and value: better prevention and treatment of opiate addiction; safe and clean food, water, and air; reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, and stroke; actionable information about health that is relevant to local communities…. The more trust that can be built, the faster and more effectively the country can respond to emergencies. Restoring trust won’t be quick or easy — especially in a divisive political season — but that doesn’t make it any less important. The word trust comes from the word strength. The more we earn each other’s trust, the stronger each of us, and our society, will be.”
Sanders Calls for Long COVID Moonshot
CIDRAP (US) reports, US “Sen Bernie Sanders, Ind.-VT, who chairs the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, yesterday released a draft of proposed long-COVID moonshot legislation, which would earmark $1 billion per year over 10 years for long-COVID research over the next decade…. Along with the major boost in research support, the draft legislation also creates a centralized long-COVID research coordinating entity within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), require the NIH to establish a new grant process for long-COVID clinical trials, require the NIH to establish a long-COVID database, and require federal agencies to provide continued education and support to patients, providers, and the public.” Read the statement.
COVID Vaccines Not Linked to Cardiac Deaths
The Hill (US) reports, “A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study has found that mRNA vaccines for the COVID-19 virus are not linked to cardiac death in younger adults. The study was conducted using Oregon death certificate data for people aged 16 to 30 who died from a heart condition between June 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2022. The study was done after cases of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, were reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System…. ‘The data do not support an association of COVID-19 vaccination with sudden cardiac death among previously healthy young persons,’ the CDC said. Read the study.
COVID Pandemic Made Poorest Countries Worse Off
The Guardian (UK) reports, “The devastating impact of the pandemic on the world’s poorest countries has brought poverty reduction to a halt and led to a widening income gap with nations in the rich west, the World Bank has warned. In a report released to coincide with its half-yearly meeting, the Washington-based organisation said half of the world’s 75 poorest nations had seen income per head rise more slowly than in developed countries over the past five years. Urging governments and the private sector to do more to help tackle what it called a “great reversal”, the Bank said that since 2019 there had been a surge in food insecurity and debt distress.
“Smoke Alarm” for Viral Diseases
STAT (US) reports on a “study demonstrating the power of sewage as an early-warning system for outbreaks” than a won a recent STAT March Madness vote. “Wastewater monitoring became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic to predict outbreaks and assess infection trends, but the Baylor team’s goal was to go beyond any single virus and simultaneously test for over 3,000 different pathogens, including all known human viruses. ‘Think of it as a smoke alarm,’ said senior author Anthony Maresso, the Joseph Melnick Endowed Chair of Virology and Microbiology at Baylor. It gives you precious minutes to get out the fire extinguisher or call 911. ‘If we don’t have vigilance, then it could become a blaze.’… In total, Tisza and Maresso identified 465 distinct viruses with this technique, most of which have never been detected from wastewater.” Read the study. |
