Month: July 2022

The Global Accountability Platform (COVID GAP) blog series. July 21, 2022 By Nellie Bristol COVID-19 created a real-world stress test for pandemic preparedness and response. While there were some successes, many systems showed dangerous faults. The authors of national health emergency capacity assessments have analyzed those failings and incorporated lessons learned into revised tools, creating more comprehensive readiness benchmarks for future pandemics. But while the revisions expand the scope and rigor of preparedness measurements, most countries already were failing to meet standards laid out in earlier versions. Protecting lives and economies from the next crisis will take an influx of financial and technical resources, new approaches that break down capacity building into manageable tasks, and sustained, proactive leadership to ensure effective implementation. The 3rd edition of the World Health Organization’s Joint External Evaluation…

The Global Accountability Platform (COVID GAP) blog series. July 14, 2022 By Nellie Bristol and Krishna Udayakumar The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s call to include an omicron component in vaccines that will be used for boosters in the U.S. beginning in fall 2022 could once again exacerbate global vaccine inequities, providing some high-income countries new vaccine options that likely won’t reach other parts of the world for months or years. The move comes even as the most recent waves of omicron, BA.4/5, which now dominate in the U.S., are proving even more contagious, more adept at evading both natural and vaccine-induced immunity, and producing disease that is not responding as well to some therapies, especially monoclonal antibodies. There also is some evidence that these variants could invade lung tissue in a way not seen in other omicron variants. All…