Governments and industry should invest as much on preparing for pandemics as they have on Covid-19 research to avoid costly lockdowns, the chair of a body aiming to boost preparations for future health crises has warned.
The G7-backed 100 Days Mission was set up in 2021 to focus efforts on producing tests, treatments and vaccines at scale within 100 days of a new pandemic being declared by the World Health Organization.
But four years after the outbreak of Covid-19, Mona Nemer, the chair of the mission’s steering group, said pandemic preparedness was being taken “for granted”. She urged countries and the pharmaceutical sector to boost funding to tackle nine other high-risk pathogens identified as threats by the WHO.