Pandemic Watch News Brief: Pandemic Accord talks resume, polio risk in Gaza, and more ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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[link removed] July 24, 2024
AVAC's weekly Pandemic Watch is a curated news digest on the latest pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) news and resources.


Mpox is a serious health concern, not only for African countries but for the world. COVID-19 showed clearly that viruses have no respect for borders, and if we don’t accelerate efforts to eliminate mpox in Africa, we risk its spread to other continents." - Jean Nachega in Nature Africa ([link removed])
Table of Contents
• If You Are in a Hurry (#If You Are in a Hurry)
• Pandemic Accord Talks Resume (#Pandemic Accord Talks Resume)
• Polio Risk in Gaza (#Polio Risk in Gaza)
• High Risk of Animal to Human Virus Leap (#High Risk of Animal to Human Virus Leap)
• Act Now to Stop the Next Pandemic (#Act Now to Stop the Next Pandemic)
• Avian Flu Updates (#Avian Flu Updates)
• Surge in Rare Virus Infections in Latin America Raises Concerns in Pregnancy (#Surge in Rare Virus Infections in Latin America Raises Concerns in Pregnancy)
• Vaccine and Long COVID Risk (#Vaccine and Long COVID Risk)
• Raising Vaccination Rates in Kenya (#Raising Vaccination Rates in Kenya)
• South Sudan and Ivory Coast Roll Out New Malaria Vaccine (#South Sudan and Ivory Coast Roll Out New Malaria Vaccine)
• Monoclonal Antibodies Could Prevent Malaria, But Progress is Slow (#Monoclonal Antibodies Could Prevent Malaria, But Progress is Slow)
• Fact Checking Candidate Trump on Childhood Vaccines (#Fact Checking Candidate Trump on Childhood Vaccines)
• Mpox, Stigma and Misinformation (#Mpox, Stigma and Misinformation)
Mpox cases are surging in DRC and there are still few if any vaccines and treatments available in the country. Now African researchers are calling for investment in mpox research on the continent. Nature ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “A new research network set up to help counter Africa’s surge in mpox cases is urgently seeking funding, as outbreaks emerge in previously unaffected parts of the continent…. ‘Mpox is a serious health concern, not only for African countries but for the world. COVID-19 showed clearly that viruses have no respect for borders, and if we don’t accelerate efforts to eliminate mpox in Africa, we risk its spread to other continents,’ [Jean] Nachega [coordinating committee chair of the MpoxReC consortium], tells Nature Africa ([link removed]) …. “The consortium aims to access mpox funding to help mitigate recurring mpox epidemics through the specific objectives detailed in its comprehensive
research agenda, Nachega explains. These centre on enhancing disease surveillance, research capacity and community engagement…. Mitigating the disease in Africa is very complex, and Nachega suggests that African researchers who have been studying the virus for decades should be leading the way.”

Medical Xpress ([link removed]) (Isle of Man) reports, “The Democratic Republic of Congo is suffering an ‘exponential rise’ in the number of monkeypox cases, the government said Saturday…. The report said the government was taking a series of measures to combat the disease, notably "medical care, monitoring of contacts with the respective health zones (and) promotion of community-based surveillance." The report came just days after the World Health Organization warned of the threat to global health posed by the ‘Mpox’ disease amid concern of a potential epidemic outbreak of a new, more deadly strain of the virus in the DRC…. The latest outbreak shows ‘no sign of slowing down’, said WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He cited 11,000 reported cases and 445 deaths, with children worst affected.”

If You Are in a Hurry

* Read Think Global Health ([link removed]) on what’s at stake as the pandemic accord talks resume.
* Read Reuters ([link removed]) on the polio risk in Gaza.
* Read a vaccine program success story from Kenyan journalist Joyce Chimbi in GAVI’s blog ([link removed]) .
* Read a WHO statement ([link removed]) and an AP ([link removed]) story on the rollout of a new malaria vaccine.
* Read Axios ([link removed]) on the role of extreme heat in human infections with avian flu.
* Read Ayoade Alakija’s, Special Envoy for the Access to COVID19 Tools Accelerator, call for global preparations for pandemic influenza now in Al Jazeera ([link removed]) .
* Read a study in in BMC Global Ethics ([link removed]) on the role of stigma and misinformation in the mpox outbreaks.


Pandemic Accord Talks Resume

Think Global Health ([link removed]) (US) reports, “On July 16 and 17, member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) gathered for the tenth round of negotiations on a pandemic agreement. Governments missed their self-imposed deadline to conclude the agreement before the World Health Assembly meeting in May. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) resumed the talks as wars, elections, inflation, climate crises, and other issues push pandemics down the global political agenda…. A meaningful pandemic agreement is within reach, but the INB needs to resolve complex and controversial issues, especially the establishment of a pandemic pathogen access and benefit-sharing system.”

Polio Risk in Gaza

Reuters ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “The World Health Organization said on Tuesday there was a high risk of the polio virus spreading across the Gaza Strip and beyond its borders due to the dire health and sanitation situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave. Ayadil Saparbekov, team lead for health emergencies at WHO in Gaza and the West Bank, said circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 had been isolated from environmental samples from sewage in Gaza.”

High Risk of Animal to Human Virus Leap

USA Today ([link removed]) (US) reports, “a new report from Harvard Law School and New York University finds we're not doing enough to prevent another animal-borne virus from becoming the next global pandemic…. The study, which looked at common forms of animal-human interactions in 15 countries including the United States, found dozens of examples where viruses could make the leap. Researchers argued that simple policy changes could dramatically reduce the risk of such disease crossover. Read the report ([link removed]) .

Act Now to Stop the Next Pandemic

CEPI’s Richard Hatchett and Fiocruz’s Mario Moreira write in an opinion piece in The Telegraph ([link removed]) (UK), “It is only a matter of time before the next virus comes for us, with potentially even more devastating effects. That is why the world must act now to establish a robust preparedness and response system, enabling us to head off future infectious disease outbreaks faster and more equitably…. The list of viruses harrying humankind today is long and worrying…. In the face of such hazards, global health authorities have taken significant steps to improve coordination. Amendments to the International Health Regulations agreed this year will bolster the world’s ability to detect and respond to future outbreaks. Negotiations on a legally binding pandemic treaty are also progressing, although this remains a work-in-progress. Such political advances are important, but on their
own they will not deliver the level of pandemic preparedness that the world urgently needs. We also need sustained investment, enduring political commitment, and unprecedented scientific collaboration to induce systemic change.”

Avian Flu Updates

There are new cases of avian flu among farm workers in the US and growing concerns that it could get much worse.

CIDRAP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) today reported that another worker culling poultry a second large layer farm tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza in preliminary tests, just days after it reported another case at the first farm, raising the total number to seven…. Last week, federal health officials said the culling staff is working in sweltering conditions in the poultry barns, which makes personal protective equipment (PPE) less effective and may further spread environmental contamination. They also described a slow, laborious hands-on process for culling the birds that increases worker exposure to the virus.”

The Atlantic ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Everyone who has tested positive in the US has worked closely with farm animals, but each additional case makes the prospect of another human pandemic feel more real. “That’s absolutely the worst-case scenario,” Webby said. It’s a possibility, although not the likeliest one. For now, the virus seems poised to continue its current trajectory: circulating among wild birds, wreaking havoc on poultry farms, and spreading among cattle herds. That outcome wouldn’t be as catastrophic as a pandemic. But it’s still not one to look forward to.”

Ayoade Alakija, Special Envoy for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, writes in Al Jazeera ([link removed]) (Qatar), “The increasingly frequent reports of new cases have caused some experts to suggest that another pandemic situation may be on the horizon. While that is by far not a certainty, we should still be prepared for it. Yet the world’s readiness to respond to such health threats still appears fragmented and inequitable. It should be worrying to us all that we still do not have adequate tools for early detection and containment…. More than a million lives may have been lost during COVID-19 because of inequity. We need to make sure this does not happen again. There needs to be a focus on helping low- and middle-income countries gain access to all the countermeasures needed to tackle the next pandemic. Action is needed now, while human-to-human transmission has still not been detected, so that if and when it is,
a rapid coordinated global response to H5N1 can be deployed.”

CIDRAP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Though federal health officials are moving ahead with a plan to produce 4.8 million doses of H5N1 avian influenza vaccine that targets the clade (strain) circulating globally and infecting US dairy herds and some farm workers, older H5N1 vaccines in the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) might be useful in a pinch…. The researchers found that the two adjuvanted licensed H5N1 vaccines generated cross-reactive binding antibodies and cross-neutralization titers against the 2.3.4.4b clade. ‘These findings suggest that the stockpiled US licensed adjuvanted H5N1 vaccines generate cross-neutralizing antibodies against circulating HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b in humans and may be useful as bridging vaccines until updated H5N1 vaccines become available,’ they wrote.” Read the study ([link removed]) .

Axios ([link removed]) (US) reports, “The extreme heat that's been blanketing large parts of the country is creating conditions that could accelerate the spread of avian flu on dairy and poultry farms. Why it matters: 100-plus-degree temperatures are making it harder for farms to follow safety precautions for containing the H5N1 virus — especially while culling large flocks of sick birds. And a preliminary analysis of DNA from an infected poultry worker in Colorado indicates that the virus infecting a flock of nearly 2 million chickens there is similar to the type sickening dairy cattle in 13 states — a sign the flu may have been transmitted by people and equipment.”

Nature ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Previous research also suggests that, in a confrontation with the virus, our immune systems would not be starting from scratch — thanks to previous infections with, and vaccinations against, other forms of flu. But this immunity is unlikely to prevent H5N1 from inflicting serious damage to global health, if a pandemic were to begin…. If an H5N1 outbreak were to occur, this first-bout effect predicts that older people could once again be largely spared whereas younger people could be more vulnerable, [evolutionary biologist Michael] Worobey says. ‘We should have that somewhere between the back and front of our minds,’ he says.”

Surge in Rare Virus Infections in Latin America Raises Concerns in Pregnancy

Science ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Brazilian scientists have sounded the alarm that the poorly understood Oropouche virus, on the rise in South and Central America, may cause stillbirths and neurological defects in babies infected in the womb…. Cases of Oropouche fever have surged since late 2022. Brazil has been hardest hit, with 7044 confirmed cases so far this year—more than eight times the number registered in all of 2023. Most cases are mild, but the virus can cause neurological damage in some patients.”

Vaccine and Long COVID Risk

The New York Times ([link removed]) (US) reports, “A large new study provides some of the strongest evidence yet that vaccines reduce the risk of developing long COVID. Scientists looked at people in the United States infected during the first two years of the pandemic and found that the percentage of vaccinated people who developed long COVID was much lower than the percentage of unvaccinated people who did…. ‘There was a residual risk of long COVID among vaccinated persons,’ Dr. Clifford Rosen, a senior scientist at the Maine Health Institute for Research, who was not involved in the study, wrote in an accompanying editorial. Because of that, Dr. Rosen added, new cases of long COVID ‘may continue unabated.’ Read the study. ([link removed]) Read the editorial ([link removed]) .

Raising Vaccination Rates in Kenya

Kenyan journalist Joyce Chimbi profiles a Nairobi clinic with phenomenal success in raising childhood vaccination rates in GAVI’s blog ([link removed]) . In a decade recorded immunization rates went from 20% to “over 100%, meaning that the clinic is managing to serve additional children from surrounding neighbourhoods…. Building better interpersonal communication for immunisation doesn’t need to be complicated, and it isn’t expensive, Atieno says. It is time consuming – but in her experience, can make a massive impact. It involves gathering information about the community being served, building a profile of the barriers that stand in the way of their children getting vaccinated, and engaging families in conversations to help build trust in the immunisation programme.”

Devex ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Child immunization rates plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic and have yet to recover, with far too many missing out on routine vaccines that would protect them against preventable diseases, according to new data from the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The two agencies estimate there were 21 million unvaccinated and undervaccinated children in 2023, 2.7 million more than before the COVID-19 pandemic — during which time there was a ‘historic backsliding’ on immunization rates, according to Dr. Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO's Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals. The high number means many of them face heightened health risks for diseases such as measles and diphtheria.”


South Sudan and Ivory Coast Roll Out New Malaria Vaccine

A WHO statement ([link removed]) says, “In a historic move to combat the devastating impact of malaria, the Ministry of Health, in partnership with UNICEF, World Health Organization and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, today launched the nationwide rollout of the R21 malaria vaccine. This landmark event marks a significant stride in the country's efforts to safeguard the health and well-being of its children. The launch follows the arrival of the first consignment of over 645,000 doses of the R21 malaria vaccine in Juba on 31 May 2024. These vaccines were distributed to the 28 counties with the highest malaria burden, with plans to scale up the rollout nationwide. Malaria continues to be a leading cause of illness and death in South Sudan, particularly among young children.

AP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Health workers in Ivory Coast began giving children the latest malaria vaccine… the beginning of a regional campaign that experts hope might curb the impact of one of Africa’s top killers. The West African country became the first to start rolling out the newest shot targeting malaria in an effort that aims to cover about 250,000 children under two. The three-dose vaccine known as R21/Matrix-M was developed by Britain’s Oxford University and was authorized by the World Health Organization last October. Research suggests it is more than 75% effective at preventing severe disease and death in the first year and that protection is extended for at least another year with a booster.”

Monoclonal Antibodies Could Prevent Malaria, But Progress is Slow

Devex ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Despite significant advancements in malaria prevention tools, nearly half of the world's population remains at risk of malaria transmission…. Though health experts agree that monoclonal antibodies could be the next big thing in malaria prevention, several significant challenges stand in the way of their widespread deployment. Reluctance by the pharmaceutical industry to consider them profitable, the snail's pace of clinical trials, numerous knowledge gaps, and the herculean task of lowering their costs to enable realistic rollouts mean that it could be some time before these promising tools make their way to the communities who desperately need them.”

Fact Checking Candidate Trump on Childhood Vaccines

AP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “In an excerpt of a recent conversation between former President Donald Trump and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted online, Trump suggested vaccines given to children to protect them from disease are harmful. He also exaggerated the number of vaccines given to children and he falsely claimed they lead to sudden, visible changes.” Trump said: “A vaccination that is like 38 different vaccines and it looks like it’s meant for a horse, not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby” and “then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically. I’ve seen it too many times. And then you hear that it doesn’t have an impact, right?” AP’s fact check notes, “There are no 38-disease shots. Babies or toddlers may get four or five vaccinations during a check-up to protect them against dangerous and deadly diseases. The American Academy of Pediatricians is adama
nt that a handful of vaccines does not overwhelm a healthy tot’s immune system. After all, babies’ immune systems are strong enough to handle the huge number of everyday germs they encounter.”

Mpox, Stigma and Misinformation

A scoping review in BMC Global Ethics ([link removed]) (UK) found, “The study revealed that the ongoing mpox outbreak is contending with a notable surge in misinformation and societal stigma. It highlights the adverse impacts of stigma and ethical concerns associated with mpox, which can negatively affect people with the disease.” The authors conclude, “The study’s findings underscore the imperative need to enhance public awareness; involve civil society; and promote collaboration among policymakers, medical communities, and social media platforms. These collective endeavors are crucial for mitigating stigma, averting human-to-human transmission, tackling racism, and dispelling misconceptions associated with the outbreak.”
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