After 3 years of Covid-19.. How is preparation for the next pandemic going?

3 years ago, the first case of coronavirus was recorded in China, which was the starting point for a pandemic with unprecedented consequences.

How can history be prevented from repeating itself?

The question galvanizes researchers and countries, but funding is insufficient and the answers are uncertain.

"We're not doing enough to prepare for the next pandemic," William Rodriguez, who heads the UN-sponsored Find Foundation, which seeks to improve access to testing worldwide, told AFP.

Tests that help limit the spread of disease are among the critical tools to avoid the emergence of a new pandemic such as COVID-19.

Other tools include identifying the virus or bacteria that could cause the next pandemic, discovering vaccines or emergency treatments, producing and distributing these products, and so on.

As for the goal behind this, it is to avoid a new pandemic, 3 years after Covid-19.

The first case of this disease was diagnosed in December 2019. Less than 3 months later, the World Health Organization officially announced that the world was facing a pandemic, which soon shook its foundations.

And last week, international negotiations began within the framework of the World Health Organization on combating future global epidemics.

The World Bank has set up a dedicated fund for this issue, funded by the G20 countries (currently amounting to $1.6 billion).

International negotiations have begun within the framework of the World Health Organization regarding combating global epidemics in the future (Getty Images)

some mutations

There are private initiatives too.

In Australia, businessman Jeffrey Cumming has committed $170 million to fund a research center run by infectious disease specialist Sharon Lewin.

Her team will focus on technologies that can serve as the basis for rapidly adaptable therapies against new pathogens.

The model that will be followed in this field is mRNA vaccines against Covid-19.

Prof Lewin told AFP that the center "will be ready" within 6 months.

The goal is to learn how to respond quickly to unknown pathogens.

But the prediction also goes through the identification of known risks.

For its part, the World Health Organization is working to update the list of dangerous microbes.

In particular, other coronaviruses, in addition to the influenza virus, should be monitored, as well as Ebola and Zika.

Epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University warns that "for each of these viruses, some mutations are sufficient" to greatly increase their range of spread.

Other pathogens under surveillance are the so-called “arenaviruses” that infect rodents and can infect humans, and the measles, mumps and Marburg viruses.

The World Health Organization is working to update the list of dangerous microbes (Pixaby)

Many crises

Will these research efforts be sufficient?

Above all, many experts and activists fear a lack of political will, which translates into the issue of funding.

Hence, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) (co-founded by several countries and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for Epidemic Response) is seeking $800 million to complete the 5-year plan.

Richard Hatchett, head of the organization, told the French Agency that decision-makers must not forget the issue of the epidemic, even if they are "focusing on many of the current crises", in a difficult geopolitical and economic context.

How can we ensure that all countries, including the poor, have access to a vaccine or treatment?

“For me, the tragedy of COVID-19 is the uneven distribution of vaccines, even when they are available,” says the epidemiologist.

Experts contacted by the French agency agree.

It will be impossible to respond well to the next pandemic if large regions such as Africa, South America, South Asia or the Middle East do not have access to therapies, especially by producing them themselves.

For many activists, it will be necessary to plan for the termination of patents for potential treatments of great importance.

However, the idea seems unrealistic in the face of opposition from the pharmaceutical sector and a large part of developed countries.

There is also little change that can be expected, as the tone adopted by these countries in the context of the ongoing discussions at the World Health Organization is "very worrying", according to estimates by Mohjah Kamal Yani, representative of the NGO "People's Vaccine Alliance".