News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense
This week’s selections include the Global Health Security Agenda annual report, a new Ebola outbreak in the DRC, high hopes for a five-in-one bacterial meningitis vaccine, and FDA meeting this week on Moderna and J&J boosters.
Contents
POLICY + INITIATIVES
The W.H.O. Names an Advisory Group to Study the Origins of the Pandemic.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday named 26 scientists, selected from more than 700 applicants to the new Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) charged with studying the origins of the coronavirus. Six members of the original W.H.O. investigatory team have joined the new advisory group. The committee also includes the head of a Swiss biosafety center. New York Times
Statement by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on the Global Health Security Agenda Annual Report
The Biden Administration today released the annual report which details the progress and impact helping countries build health security capacity through the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) in fiscal year 2020. WhiteHouse.gov
The Pandemic Treaty as a Framework for Global Solidarity: Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations in Global Health Governance
The pandemic treaty provides a path to advance human rights in global health law by strengthening extraterritorial obligations. A new pandemic treaty can recognize extraterritorial obligations under the right to health by: prioritizing support for low-income States in the Global South; cooperating through WHO in coordinating pandemic responses; regulating pharmaceutical companies to secure equitable vaccine access; and facilitating accountability through complementary monitoring and review mechanisms under WHO and the UN human rights system. Bill of Health
Commission Warns Federal Biodetection System Still Does Not Work, 20 years After Deadly Anthrax Attacks
Saving Sisyphus: Advanced Biodetection for the 21st Century details critical failures with the DHS’ biodetection program and provides a roadmap to Congress for investing in next generation solutions. Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense
CDC Director Defends Decision to Overrule Expert Panel on Covid Booster Shots for Health and Other Frontline Workers
During the debate over whether this group needed booster shots at this time, some ACIP members pleaded for a yes vote to protect health workers. But others said the available data do not support the need for boosting this group at present. Walensky appeared to have seized on that, and on the split nature of the vote. “That was not about no. It was more about ‘not yet,’’’ she said. STAT
‘Naively Ambitious’: How COVAX Failed on Its Promise to Vaccinate the World
Officials have received supplies months late or with little notice, throwing vaccination campaigns into chaos and sometimes delaying people’s second doses, if they got them at all. In some cases, vaccines delivered close to their expiration dates were returned or thrown away after governments were unable to distribute them in time. Countries and regions with the financial means to do so scrambled to make deals with vaccine manufacturers directly, but found themselves at the back of the line. STAT
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
Data from Federal Scientists Raise Questions About J.&J. Booster Shots
People who received a Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine may be better off with a booster shot from Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech, according to preliminary data from a federal clinical trial published this week. The FDA panel of vaccine advisers will meet today and tomorrow to vote on whether to recommend Moderna and J&J offer booster shots. New York Times
Global Plan Aims to Slash Meningitis Toll with Help of New Five-in-one Vaccine
With the help of a new vaccine targeting five serotypes of N. meningitidis, WHO and global partners have launched an ambitious roadmap aimed at eliminating epidemics of bacterial meningitis, which kill an estimated 250,000 a year in Africa, by 2030. Spread by respiratory droplets, bacterial meningitis kills one in 10 affected, often within 24 hours, and leaves one in five with lifelong disabilities such as deafness, cognitive impairment, and loss of limbs. Science
Sweden, Norway, and Finland Pause Use of Moderna Vaccine in Young People
The pause “for precautionary reasons” in Sweden and Finland concerns anyone born 1991 or later. In Finland, under 30s will now be offered the Pfizer vaccine as their second dose. Swedish officials are still discussing the second dose for the 81 000 under 30s who received a first dose of Moderna. All three countries based their decision on an unpublished study with Sweden’s Public Health Agency saying that it signals “an increased risk of side effects such as inflammation of the heart muscle or the pericardium” — the double-walled sac containing the heart and the roots of the main vessels, a very rare side effect associated with the shot. The BMJ, AP
How Antiviral Pill Molnupiravir Shot Ahead in the COVID Drug Hunt
The Merck pill, which could become the first oral antiviral COVID treatment, forces the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to mutate itself to death. Molnupiravir began as a possible therapy for Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus at Emory University’s non-profit in Atlanta. But in 2015, DRIVE’s chief executive George Painter offered it to a collaborator, virologist Mark Denison at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, to test against coronaviruses. “I was pretty blown away by it,” Denison remembers. He found that it worked against multiple coronaviruses: MERS and mouse hepatitis virus. Nature
INOVIO Expands Phase 3 for its DNA Vaccine Candidate for COVID-19
The U.S. government dropped late-stage clinical trial funding for latecomer Inovio, leading the company to pursue overseas markets. This week INOVIO announced they will conduct the Phase 3 segment of its global Phase 2/3 INNOVATE trial in Colombia, for INO-4800, its two-dose DNA vaccine candidate for COVID-19. INOVIO also recently announced the authorization to proceed in China with two Advaccine-sponsored clinical trials investigating the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of heterologous boost combinations with INO-4800. INOVIO
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
19 Oct: Launch of the WHO Position Paper on Building Health Systems Resilience for Universal Health Coverage and Health Security
A live-streamed launch event will take place tomorrow for a WHO position paper on a renewed global commitment to health security through resilient public health systems and universal health coverage. World Health Organization
UK Was Advised to Stockpile PPE and Screen Travelers in 2016 After Coronavirus Modelling
The government was warned four years before the Covid-19 pandemic of the need to stockpile personal protective equipment, screen international travelers, and set up a contact tracing system in the event of a major outbreak of a coronavirus, a previously unpublished report has revealed. The BMJ
Preparing for “Disease X”
The newly established WHO Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) presents an unprecedented opportunity to better guide studies that specifically investigate high-threat pathogens. Its mandate is to advise the WHO on developing a framework to define comprehensive studies on the origins of such pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2—information that is essential for developing policies and enhancing preparedness to reduce the possibility of future zoonotic spillover events. Science
‘The Real Problem is the Repetition of Mistakes’: Scientists React to Covid Inquiry
The failure to prevent tens of thousands of deaths during Britain’s brutal second wave of Covid infections was a more serious error than the timing of the first lockdown, senior scientists have told the Guardian, after a damning report by MPs on the handling of the pandemic. The Guardian
SELECT AGENTS + CBRNE THREATS
Addressing Biocrises After Covid-19: Is Deterrence an Option?
Determining if biological attacks can be deterred requires a quick review of two topics: First, what are the basic tenets of deterrence, and second, how does this theory apply to biological threats? While the national security community has talked about deterrence theory for decades, understanding deterrence still eludes many people who apply its concepts to contemporary security issues. A deterrence by denial strategy for countering biological threats will not work given the disparity between the significant number of biological warfare agents and hundreds of unprotected U.S. cities and available defensive countermeasures. War on the Rocks
A Scoping Review on Category A Agents as Bioweapons
A scoping review using PRISMA guidelines was performed to categorize current information on Category A biological agents as well as understand their potential for future threats. The results used 34 articles and found that while botulin neurotoxins were the most lethal, anthrax posed the most likely threat for use as a bioweapon. Most research was conducted on plague, though it is not the most likely threat. Smallpox is the most likely agent to vaccinate against as there is already a working vaccine that has proven effective. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
Toxic Blister Agents: Chemistry, Mode of Their Action and Effective Treatment Strategies
A major hurdle to developing countermeasures to blister agents is a lack of proper understanding of the toxicological mechanism of action of these compounds. Chemical-Biological Interactions
Effects of Two Chlorine Gas Attacks on Hospital Admission and Clinical Outcomes in Kafr Zita, Syria
This study aimed to describe clinical manifestations of chlorine gas exposure to identify factors leading to facility admission and the need for ICU/intubation in conflict-affected areas with limited healthcare infrastructure. Cureus
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
Biden Moves to Ramp Up At-Home Covid-19 Testing
The U.S. announced a $1 billion purchase of at-home rapid tests for Covid-19, a move aimed at scaling up test production in the U.S. and quadrupling the availability of the tests by December. The funding will augment another $2 billion the Biden administration said it would put toward rapid test purchases in September. The additional money will contribute to expanding the full U.S. market for testing to 200 million tests per month. STAT
COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibodies, Rapid Tests in High Demand
Roughly $3 billion worth of monoclonal antibodies purchased in mid-September, on top of prior purchases, doesn’t mean manufacturing lines can suddenly produce a greater volume. Florida is one of the seven US states that accounted for 70% of the country’s monoclonal antibody orders prior to the US government’s new allocation system to make sure there is fair distribution to other states. Florida dropped from about 72,000 weekly doses to 27,850 during the first week of allocations. Its governor has been one of the most vocal opponents of the new system. CIDRAP
Ukraine Confirms Case of Polio in 18-Month-Old Toddler
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a poliovirus had been identified as the cause of paralysis in an unvaccinated 17-month-old girl in Ukraine’s Rivne province, and that it had been kept informed by the Ukrainian authorities. In 2015, Ukraine confirmed further cases of polio in two children — one aged 10 months the other four — which the World Health Organization said was Europe’s first outbreak in five years. EuroNews
UN Starts Vaccinating People Against Ebola in the Congo
A child of nearly 3 years old was sent to the Butsili hospital in Beni after presenting various symptoms related to Ebola. He died on Oct. 6 and tested positive for Ebola. Officials have begun vaccination efforts in the area. About a thousand doses of the vaccine have arrived in Goma, the capital of Congo’s North Kivu province, and 200 doses were sent to Beni, a city near the area where the first case was identified last week. Seattle Times, AP News, CIDRAP
Oct 2021 Ebola Virus Disease Case in DRC Linked to 2018-2020 Outbreak
The patient sample was sequenced at the Pathogen Genomics Sequencing laboratory using both Illumina and Oxford Nanopore Technologies platforms. “Our initial findings indicate that the October 2021 EVD outbreak likely represents a new flare-up of the 2018-2020 Nord Kivu/Ituri EVD outbreak, initiated by transmission of EBOV from a persistently infected survivor or a survivor who experienced relapse. Epidemiologic investigations are ongoing to determine the source.” Virological
PUBLIC HEALTH
The Role of Face Coverings in Mitigating the Transmission of SARS-Cov-2 Virus: Statement from the Respiratory Evidence Panel
The expert panel concluded that airborne transmission beyond 2 meters is possible and that contributory factors to airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 include poorly ventilated indoor settings, prolonged exposure and activities that may generate more aerosols; individual characteristics likely to increase the risk of transmission include high viral load and early symptomatic disease; effective ventilation as part of the implementation of the hierarchy of risk controls should be used to reduce airborne exposures beyond 2 meters; laboratory data shows that non-medical masks (such as cloth masks) made of 2 or 3 layers may have similar filtration efficiency to surgical masks; N95 respirators (or equivalent) are more effective in hospital settings. GOV.UK
‘I Hope You Die’: How the COVID Pandemic Unleashed Attacks On Scientists
Coordinated social-media campaigns and threatening e-mails or phone calls to scientists are not new: topics such as climate change, vaccination and the effects of gun violence have drawn similar attacks in the past. But even scientists who had a high profile before COVID-19 told Nature that the abuse was a new and unwelcome phenomenon tied to the pandemic. Many wanted the extent of the problem discussed more openly. “I believe national governments, funding agencies and scientific societies have not done enough to publicly defend scientists.” Nature
Measles in the 21st Century: Progress Toward Achieving and Sustaining Elimination
Because measles is one of the most contagious human diseases, maintenance of high (≥95%) 2-dose MCV coverage is crucial for controlling the spread of measles and successfully reaching measles elimination. However, the plateauing of global measles vaccine coverage for nearly a decade and the global measles resurgence during 2018–2019 demonstrate that much work remains. The Journal of Infectious Diseases
SPECIAL INTEREST
Ep 82 Anthrax: The Hardcore Spore
This episode explores the many dimensions of anthrax, from the different ways B. anthracis can cause disease to the incredibly long and varied history of the pathogen, a history of which bioterrorism is only a very recent part. Dr. Johanna Salzer, Veterinary Medical Officer in the Bacterial Special Pathogens Branch at the CDC, discusses the veterinary side of anthrax, and Morgan Walker, spatial epidemiologist at the University of Florida, talks through the environmental factors that affect B. anthracis distribution and emergence. This Podcast Will Kill You
FEMA COVID-19 Funeral Assistance
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought overwhelming grief to many families. Under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, FEMA is providing financial assistance for COVID-19 related funeral expenses incurred after January 20, 2020. FEMA.Gov