This paper was presented at the Health Security Summit hosted by Flagship Pioneering on June 8th and 9th in advance of the G7 meeting. Flagship Pioneering is the venture capital firm that formed Moderna in 2010 (https://archive.is/4RJax). The firm's CEO Noubar Afeyan also currently owns the majority stake in Moderna (https://archive.is/O6atR). The summit featured notable guests: Kristalina Georgieva (Managing Director of the IMF), Matt Hancock (UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care), Stéphane Bancel (CEO of Moderna), and Albert Bourla (CEO of Pfizer).
Thought it was relevant because Canada invested in Moderna vaccines, and it's not unreasonable to think Canadian political and health representatives could be influenced by the content of this paper.
Download the full report near bottom of the link, it is well worth a read: https://archive.is/tb73E
Quick synopsis: The COVID-19 pandemic has been deadly but is coming to an end due to safety and effectiveness of vaccines. To prevent another costly pandemic, governments of the world need to adopt a pre-emptive rather than reactive approach to health. Everyone has a right to health which governments must protect, the same way governments protect international borders. The goal is to increase individual and collective health. AI-enabled health monitoring applications will advise consumers if they should receive medical treatment to prevent illness, potentially even before they have symptoms. In addition to pathogenic diseases, this system could also protect against individual physical and mental health disorders. Public and private investment should be more integrated, novel medical treatment approval processes should be streamlined for faster approval, and medical education should be shifted to uphold pre-emptive health principles. A new global institution will need to be established to provide guidance, and the WHO's traditional powers should be enhanced. Privacy is a concern: democracies will require buy-in from citizens and authoritarian countries may use citizens' medical information to expand overall surveillance and discrimination against minorities and dissidents.
Other interesting points:
- Numerous vaccines have been proven safe and effective, and the vaccines mean it is a matter of when, not if, the pandemic will be over. (pg. 3)
- Government expenditure on pre-emptive health should be treated as capital spending (like infrastructure) and listed as such on government balance sheets. (pg. 16)
- Low- and middle-income countries may be able to "leapfrog" to implementing pre-emptive health systems quicker than developed countries with established medical systems. (pg. 18)
- A restructuring of the health sector means a much more significant government role in the lives of citizens, we are likely to see some trade-offs between privacy and health security. (pg. 19-20)
