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From the archive: Academies call for chief pandemic officer

Learned bodies wanted an independent pandemic advisory role to be created in 2006

In the midst of the bird flu outbreak in 2006, the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences criticised the government for not making best use of scientific evidence and for failing to properly engage with industry to develop vaccines.

The two learned bodies also called for the appointment of a high-level independent scientific adviser on pandemics to “sit alongside the government’s chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser to complement their roles and contribute relevant expertise”.

They said: “We hope that this could be a model for how the UK responds to other future emergencies.”

Here we republish our story about that expert assessment.  


 

Government not acting on scientific advice for bird flu plans, says report

The government should appoint a high level independent scientific adviser to inform its preparations to tackle an influenza pandemic, the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences have said.

In a report published today, the academies say the independent adviser should sit at the same level as the government’s chief scientific adviser, currently David King. They also criticize the government for not making best use of scientific advice in its preparations to tackle a bird flu pandemic and say it has failed to properly engage with industry to develop new vaccines.

The report, published today and entitled “Pandemic influenza: science into policy”, raises concerns that decisions are being made, for example on stockpiling only one drug, which fail to take account of expert advice.

John Skehel, chair of the working group who put together the report, said, “The decision to continue to stockpile just one antiviral drug is a major concern. This needs to be reconsidered…. The government was right to order Tamiflu in early 2005. However, we are concerned that it is not updating its plans as the landscape of what we know about influenza changes.”

He added, “New evidence that H5N1 can develop resistance to Tamiflu indicates that a combination of antivirals should be stockpiled by the UK for the most effective management of a pandemic.”

The report says that appointing a leading influenza specialist as a high-level independent adviser to government would help feed the latest scientific information from academic researchers, industry and government departments into the ministerial committee responsible for preparing for a bird flu pandemic.

Skehel said, “This specialist would sit alongside the government’s chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser to complement their roles and contribute relevant expertise. We hope that this could be a model for how the UK responds to other future emergencies.”

The report also calls on the government to bring together academic researchers and those in pharmaceutical companies to develop and improve vaccines—which it says is key to controlling the scale of an influenza pandemic.

Skehel added, “We find limited evidence that the UK government is engaging with industry to research and develop new vaccines. Encouraging researchers and drug manufacturers to share information would speed up the development of adjuvants and vaccines to make the UK more responsive during a pandemic.”

Skehel said the UK is recognised as one of the most prepared countries in the world, however research in this area must continue and up-to-date scientific information must be central to the government’s decision-making process.