UK to Build New Contact-tracing System and Stockpile PPE Under £1bn Pandemic Plan
By Maeve Cullinan – Global Health Security Reporter
First new preparedness strategy since 2011 focuses on a range of threats and includes funding for a new ‘biosecurity hub’
Britain will pre-emptively build a new contact tracing system and begin stockpiling PPE under a new, billion-pound plan to prepare for the next pandemic.
According to the plan, which was unveiled by the Department of Health and Social Care on Wednesday, the Government believes a new pandemic is a “certainty” but will be different from those that came before it, meaning plans must be flexible.
The strategy includes the introduction of an “All Pandemics Hazard Bill” – new legislation that would enable the government to rapidly adjust emergency measures based on how a disease spreads. The bill will be drafted by the Department of Health and Social Care and will be completed by March 2027.
“[The legislation] will adopt a modular approach, with options that can be chosen as required when a pandemic is declared or imminent, in response to the specific disease,” the document says.
The new strategy is the first pandemic preparedness plan since the 2011 Pandemic Plan, which focused solely on flu and was heavily criticised for leaving the country “sleepwalking” into the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was heavily informed by the results of Exercise Pegasus, which took place last year and simulated the spread of a novel pathogen and tested the government’s response. The Department of Health and Social Care is expected to publish a full report on the drill later this year.
In all, the government will spend £1 billion on pandemic preparedness under the new plan.
The new contact-tracing system will be set up and run by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and will use “live location data” and artificial intelligence to provide “a more rapid, large-scale detection and alert system during pandemics,” the document said.
The UKHSA will “explore options to work with ‘big tech’” to deliver the system, which is intended to be ready for deployment, if needed, by 2030, it added.
As well as building PPE stockpiles, the Government will also allocate £250 million to build a new “biosecurity hub” in Harlow, Essex, tasked with researching dangerous pathogens and developing life-saving vaccines and drugs.
The new hub had previously been announced in July last year, and the Government now says it is to be operational by 2038.
More money will be invested into developing vaccines on UK soil with the aim of providing British people with jabs within 100 days of a new pandemic breaking out – the time period considered the gold standard in global health to significantly reduce deaths as well as economic and social disruption.
To this end, the government will continue to work with Moderna, the American drug company that pioneered mRNA jabs, which in 2022 signed a 10-year deal to build a new vaccine research and production facility in Oxfordshire with capacity to produce up to 250 million jabs a year.
The strategy comes in the wake of the Covid-19 inquiry, which sharply criticised the government for doing “too little, too late” and poorly planning for an outbreak that killed 200,000 people in Britain alone.
Unlike the 2011 Pandemic Plan, the new strategy accounts for the five main routes for infectious disease transmission – respiratory, oral, blood, sexual, and touch.
Why the next pandemic may ‘catch us napping’
Another major failing of the 2011 plan, according to experts, was that it did not address how to stop a pandemic pathogen from entering the UK.
By contrast, the pandemic plans of countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore focused on preventing a pathogen from entering as a first line of defence, prioritising testing and quarantine at ports and airports.
Under the UK’s new strategy, the “UKHSA, the Home Office and the Department for Transport (DfT) will work together to strengthen their capabilities for implementing and operationalising public health measures at points of entry to the UK”.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the new plan was informed by lessons learned during the pandemic.
Dan Jarvis, the Minister of State for Security, said: “It’s right we learn the lessons from the devastating impact Covid-19 had on our health service and society. Our new pandemic strategy marks a major improvement in the government’s preparedness for future pandemics.”
“Whether increasing the supply of British-made vaccines, or stockpiling PPE for key workers, we’re working with partners across the public and private sector to take action to keep the country safe,” he added.
Original source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/uk-to-build-new-contact-tracing-system-and-stockpile-ppe-un/
