Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics
The world witnessed the severe humanitarian and economic repercussions of pandemic pathogens during COVID-19 crisis, and we remain dangerously unprepared for future pandemics.
With the rate of zoonotic pathogen spread increasing and rapid technological advances in synthetic biology and AI, there exists the possibility of far deadlier pandemics, but also new opportunities to defend against them.
This podcast is from the Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics course, which covers technical and policy efforts to prevent, detect and respond to catastrophic pandemics.
Biosecurity Fundamentals: Pandemics
Towards a Theory of Pandemic-Proof PPE
"Vital workers must be protected against viral threats so that critical functions of society can continue during a global pandemic. Globally, COVID-19 revealed weaknesses in the PPE enterprise including production and distribution limitations, counterfeit and poor-quality products, and inadequate stockpiles. End users struggled with design limitations that often reduced the level of protection they were afforded and made completing their work more difficult. Moreover, requirements for PPE that could protect against a future pandemic involving a feasible, worst-case pathogen were under-characterized. This study strives to identify strategies to improve the PPE ecosystem to prepare the world for the next pandemic by ensuring that vital workers have the PPE they need to perform their jobs safely."
Original text: https://blueprintbiosecurity.org/u/2024/05/Towards-a-Theory-of-Pandemic-Proof-PPE-Blueprint.pdf
Author(s): Blueprint Biosecurity and Gryphon Scientific