UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday laid out plans to minimise the risk of a future pathogen outbreak and reiterated calls for a global treaty that would protect and prepare the world should another pandemic occur.
He said he wanted to bring together world leaders and health experts to collectively defend against any possible future threat.
"We all have lessons to learn from an experience that none of us would want to repeat," he said.
Mr Johnson set a target of being able to develop future vaccines against new diseases in 100 days – a third of the time it took to develop Covid-19 vaccines.
“I intend to bring together my fellow leaders, scientists and international organisations for collective defence against the next pathogen, just as we unite against military threats,” Mr Johnson told the Munich Security Conference.
“The heroic endeavours of the world’s scientists produced safe and effective vaccines against Covid in barely 300 days.
"In future, we should aim to telescope that even more: by drawing together our resources, we should seek to develop vaccines against emerging diseases in 100 days,” he said in his virtual address to the annual meeting.
Mr Johnson said part of protecting the world against Covid-19 required understanding its mutations, and he urged the global community to utilise this lesson for the future.
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A person waits to get the vaccine as a health worker prepares an injection with a dose, at a vaccination centre in Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, London. Reuters -
Volunteers distribute coronavirus self-test kits to residents at a home in the village of Bramley, west of London. AFP -
A woman holds boxes and a bottled drink in her room at the Radisson Blu hotel at Heathrow Airport, where travellers are undertaking mandatory hotel quarantine. AFP -
A pedestrian passes a closed shop with a window display from last year in the Mayfair area of central London. AFP -
A man sits at a window of the Radisson Blu hotel at Heathrow Airport. AFP -
NHS staff with a dialysis filter machine outside the Royal London hospital. AFP -
A pedestrian passes closed shop fronts in Mayfair, central London. AFP -
A pedestrian walks past a mobile Covid-19 test centre in London. EPA -
A person receives the vaccine in Westfield Stratford City shopping centre, London. Reuters -
Ambulance staff with a patient outside the Royal London hospital. EPA
"Now we need to mobilise our shared expertise to create an early warning system for the next pathogen, enabled by a worldwide network of pandemic surveillance centres. The UK intends to work alongside the World Health Organisation and our friends to bring this about," he said.
“If anything good can possibly come from this tragedy, we have at least been given the chance to build a global recovery on new and green foundations, so that humanity can prosper without imperilling the planet.”
