Pandemic preparedness and response – recoupling the global health system

This session is curated by Dennis Görlich, Program Director, Global Solutions Initiative, and Program Manager, Socio-Economic Transformation, The New Institute. The COVID-19 pandemic was a major brake for economic and social development. Despite warnings that a pandemic may occur, the international community was largely unprepared when COVID first emerged in late 2019. For example, while vaccines were quickly developed, they were unevenly distributed and, without enough production capacity to serve everybody, lower income countries were pushed to the back of the queue when COVID first emerged in late 2019. While there has been learning on preparedness and response, more needs to be done globally. How can we better detect emerging threats, respond rapidly, and alert the global community? How can we more effectively monitor and respond to outbreaks and conduct global readiness exercises? How can we secure global approaches to fair and rapid access to medication and vaccines? How can we coordinate action to ensure a much greater resilience of global health systems in the future?