News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense
This week’s selections include calls for a Pandemic Treaty, emerging concepts in vaccine adjuvants, and Darpa’s epigenetic signatures program.
Contents
POLICY + INITIATIVES
Key U.S. Initiatives for Addressing Biological Threats: Bolstering the Chemical and Biological Defense Program
This briefer describes how Chemical and Biological Defense Program (CBDP) activities form a significant national asset: funding advances against biological threats, driving their development, taking them through testing and evaluation to avoid promising investments hitting the proverbial valley of death, and working with allies and partners to deploy and improve new technologies. It then describes disturbing downward trends in this program’s resources against biological threats, including cuts made during a historic pandemic. Council on Strategic Risks
A Chance to Stop Syria and Russia From Using Chemical Weapons
At the Conference of the States Parties later this month—a gathering of all 193 OPCW member states—the United States should lead efforts to formally suspend Damascus, an action that requires a two-thirds vote. Under the Trump administration, at the Conference of the States Parties late last year, the United States and 45 other countries started the ball rolling by circulating a draft decision to that effect. Foreign Policy
The UK Government’s Aid Funding Cuts are a Wrecking Ball to Global Health Security
Announcing a ‘global health directorate’ might distract you from the fact the government is simultaneously cutting health research and development funding and critical overseas development programmes important to health security and capacity building to respond to future threats. The Telegraph
Canada, U.S. Agree on Protocol to Guide Bilateral Trade if African Swine Fever is Detected in Wild Pigs
Under the protocol, all trade in live swine, swine germplasm, and untreated swine products would initially stop if ASF is found in wild pigs, while trade in products treated to make the ASF virus ineffective could continue. The protocol describes 3 phases which would gradually reduce restrictions on trade for these products. Government of Canada
The World Must Learn from COVID Before Diving Into a Pandemic Treaty
Before negotiating a new treaty, nations need to study why existing agreements are not working. Additionally, the voices of NGOs and researchers, thousands of clinicians, epidemiologists, geneticists, public-health specialists, virologists and so many more who have been central to the pandemic response, have yet to be heard — and they need to be. Nature and BBC
Biden Administration Names Coordinator for U.S. Vaccine Diplomacy Worldwide
The Biden administration on Monday named Gayle Smith, a former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) coordinator under the Obama administration, as the coordinator for Global COVID Response & Health Security at the State Department. Smith will lead U.S. COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy globally as the Biden administration seeks to convey they are moving quickly to support the global effort. Reuters
World Leaders Call for Pandemic Treaty
25 leaders from around the world signed an open letter calling for an international pandemic treaty, an agreement for international coordination to prepare for future pandemics. A large focus within the call to action was the authors’ commitment to improving data-sharing mechanisms and disease surveillance. Center for Health Security
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
U.S. Taps Johnson & Johnson to Run Troubled Emergent BioSolutions Vaccine Plant
The extraordinary move came just days after officials learned the plant had ruined 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine. New York Times
U.S. Bet Big on Covid Vaccine Manufacturer Even as Problems Mounted
Previously undisclosed internal documents and interviews with current and former federal officials and former company employees depict a factory operation that was ill-equipped to take on such a mammoth manufacturing task, despite Emergent’s having received a $163 million federal contract to improve the facility and prepare it for high-volume production. New York Times
Emerging Concepts in the Science of Vaccine Adjuvants
A revolution in our understanding of the activation of the innate immune system through pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) is improving the mechanistic understanding of adjuvants, and recent conceptual advances highlight the notion that tissue damage, different forms of cell death, and metabolic and nutrient sensors can all modulate the innate immune system to activate adaptive immunity. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Pfizer and BioNTech Say Vaccine Prevents Covid-19 In Adolescents
The companies also said that the vaccine was well-tolerated, with symptoms similar in the 12 year-old to 15 year-old age group as among those aged 16 to 25. STAT
Researchers Are Hatching a Low-Cost Coronavirus Vaccine
A new vaccine for Covid-19 that is entering clinical trials in Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam could change how the world fights the pandemic. The vaccine, called NDV-HXP-S, is the first in clinical trials to use a new molecular design that is widely expected to create more potent antibodies than the current generation of vaccines. And the new vaccine could be far easier to make. New York Times
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
After COVID, Are Billions in Biodefense Funds Needed to Deter US Adversaries?
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Defense Department should dramatically increase its funding for biological defense initiatives in order to deter other nations from seeking to exploit America’s perceived vulnerability to a medical crisis according to a new report from the Council on Strategic Risks. Defense News
Investing in Evidence to Inform Practice: Reimagining the US Public Health System
The public health failures of this pandemic were predictable consequences of chronic underfunding and insufficient evidence to guide its response. Health Affairs
Op-Ed: Why Redfield Is Wrong on SARS-CoV-2 Origins
It’s often stated almost as a truism, and apparently accepted by Redfield, that a virus crossing from animals into people has to undergo rapid adaptation to become transmissible in humans. While that may often be true, it doesn’t have to be. We know SARS-CoV-2 itself can jump seamlessly between hosts – it’s gone multiple times from humans into minks and spread like wildfire. It transmits perfectly well among hamsters and ferrets in the lab. If a human virus can transmit among mink, there’s no basis to assume a bat virus can’t transmit among humans. Humans may think we’re very special – but to a virus we are just another mammalian host. MedPage Today
WHO Report Into COVID Pandemic Origins Zeroes in On Animal Markets
Another possibility is that an outbreak occurred at a farm that provided animals to the market. Several infected animals — with slightly different variations of SARS-CoV-2 — might have then been sold at markets in Wuhan, sparking multiple infections in humans. Nature
SELECT AGENTS + CBRNE THREATS
Ebola Virus Transmission Initiated by Relapse of Systemic Ebola Virus Disease
Researchers describe a case of acute EVD relapse that has led to human-to-human transmission. They were able to sequence EBOV genomes in samples obtained during the patient’s first EVD episode in June 2019 and second EVD episode Dec 2019, and we found that they differed by only two mutations. These findings indicate a relapse of the initial EBOV infection. New England Journal of Medicine
Be It Nuclear, Chemical or Biological Warfare, Russia is Ready for War
The current civilian AI-4 individual first aid kit held in Russian civil defense stocks contains antibacterial agents, radioprotective agents, an agent to treat carbon monoxide poisoning and antidotes against some chemical poisoning. Compared to regular first aid kits, most American or European civilians have, the AI-4 offers far better capability to treat victims of a CBRN threat. National Interest
Missouri Man Gets 12 Years in Prison for Trying to Buy a Chemical Weapon
The man, a former teacher, pleaded guilty after plotting to use highly toxic dimethylmercury to poison a woman who had broken off a relationship with him, prosecutors said. New York Times
New Research Shows How Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Attaches to Cells, Paving the Way for a Vaccine
Most VEEV strains are under highly restricted access in the United States, and there is no vaccine available for the public; a live-virus vaccine does exist for the military and at-risk laboratory personnel. However, this vaccine often causes adverse side effects, requires multiple booster shots, and may even be able to revert back to its infectious form once inside the body. ASBMB Today
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
An Early Warning System for Disease: An Interview With DARPA’s Epigenetics Program Manager
Dr. Van Gieson is leading the Epigenetic CHaracterization and Observation (ECHO) project, which was developed to create technology to allow for the analysis of an individual’s epigenetic ‘fingerprint’. Through this signature program, a comprehensive record of an individual’s exposure to various contaminants is potentially revealed. Forbes
The CDC’s $1.75 Billion Sequencing Boom May Be Throwing Money at the Wrong Problem
The CDC says that sequencing can track whether variants have learned to evade vaccines or treatments. But the agency’s surveillance sequencing program doesn’t connect any of its sequences back to the people they came from, whether they were vaccinated, or how sick they got. Turning surveillance data into useful knowledge faces enormous legal, political, and infrastructural barriers in the US, some of them insurmountable. MIT Technology Review
Animal Reservoirs and Hosts for Emerging Alphacoronaviruses and Betacoronaviruses
A review of the receptor use, known hosts, and clinical signs associated with each host for 15 coronaviruses detected in humans and wildlife, livestock, and companion animals. Emerging Infectious Diseases
A Method for Detection Of SARS-Cov-2 RNA in Healthy Human Stool: A Validation Study
This study validated a sensitive and reproducible RT-rtPCR assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in human stool, with potential uses in faecal microbiota transplantation donor screening, sewage monitoring, and further research into the effects of faecal shedding on the epidemiology of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet Microbe
Rapid, Twice-Weekly Coronavirus Tests to Be Offered to Everyone in England – Including Home Delivery
A major marketing campaign encouraging people to take up the offer of twice-weekly lateral flow tests independent of symptoms kicked off this week in England. The tests are being made widely available through a home mail order service, workplace testing programs, community testing by all local authorities and schools. Sky News
PUBLIC HEALTH
Vaccination Certificates Won’t End Lockdown. Prosocial Approaches Will
Triggering prosocial behaviors — the want to get vaccinated because it is internally satisfying to help society as a whole — is a better way to promote large-scale vaccination than vaccine certificates, which favor a select group of people who long to go on vacation, go back to the gym, and generally find their new normal. STAT
The Dark Web Is Teeming with Vaccine Listings Right Now
The sites are advertising everything from vaccine doses to falsified vaccine certifications and negative test results. Currently, more than 1,200 listings are offering a variety of vaccines, including Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sputnik, and Sinopharm. Wired
Many Children with Serious Inflammatory Syndrome Had No Covid Symptoms
Pediatricians should be vigilant, experts said, after the release of the largest U.S. study of the syndrome, MIS-C, that can strike young people weeks after their coronavirus infection. Over 90 percent of those young people experienced symptoms involving at least four organ systems and 58 percent needed treatment in intensive care units. New York Times
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
How Commonly Was Smallpox Used as a Biological Weapon?
Actual incidents of intentional smallpox infection “may have occurred more frequently than scholars have previously acknowledged,” according to Fenn. Threats of infection were also certainly used, and not just by military forces, against indigenous peoples. JSTOR Daily
How Native Americans Were Vaccinated Against Smallpox, Then Pushed Off Their Land
In 1832, Congress passed legislation — the Indian Vaccination Act — that allowed the federal government to hire doctors to vaccinate Native Americans who were living near White frontier settlements. Many White settlers feared that Indians would spread the disease to them. Nearly two centuries later, many tribes remain suspicious of the drive to get them vaccinated against the coronavirus. Washington Post
How Mary Wortley Montagu’s Bold Experiment Led to Smallpox Vaccine – 75 Years Before Jenner
When Lady Mary Wortley Montagu deliberately infected her own daughter with a tiny dose of smallpox – successfully inoculating the three-year-old child in 1721 – her ideas were dismissed and she was denounced by 18th-century society as an “ignorant woman”. The Guardian