What Is Disease X To Be Discussed By WHO-Led Panel At WEF In Davos

OB Bureau

January 16, 2024 4:08 pm

New Delhi: World leaders convening in Switzerland’s Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) this week will discuss concerns regarding the potential for a future pandemic, Disease X, that could kill 20 times more than the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notably, Disease X is a term used to refer to planning and preparation for a future international epidemic caused by a pathogen, which is not yet known to cause diseases in humans.

WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will lead a panel consisting of Brazilian health minister Nisia Trindade Lima, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca’s chair of the board Michel Demaré, Royal Philips CEO Roy Jakobs, and Indian hospital chain Apollo’s executive vice-chairperson Preetha Reddy on Wednesday in a session “Preparing for Disease X”. There they will discuss “novel efforts needed to prepare healthcare systems for the multiple challenges ahead” if the world needs to be ready for a much deadlier pandemic, the WEF said.

The meetings are being held to encourage the development of platform technologies, including vaccines, drug therapies and diagnostic tests, so that in case a pandemic breaks out, skills and knowledge learned during these preparations could be applied and deployed to combat the sickness, News18 reported.

The attendees are holding the meeting because there are vast reservoirs of viruses circulating in the wildlife that pose a potential threat to human health as they have the potential to spill over from animals to humans, the report added.

Research on Disease X in 2017 helped scientists to develop the first vaccine against COVID-19, 326 days after the release of the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Researchers from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), as part of the research on Disease X, are working on rapid response vaccine platforms that can develop new immunizations within 100 days of a virus, which has the potential to cause a pandemic, emerging, under a $3.5 billion plan, according to the report.