Lecture in Vienna

Rendi-Wagner: “The next pandemic is coming”

(Bild: APA/FRAMEZ)

Covid-19 was not the end. "The next pandemic is coming - whether in five, 15 or 50 years," explained Pamela Rendi-Wagner, Director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), during a lecture at the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) in Vienna on Friday.

"The foundations for overcoming the next pandemic must be laid today," said the public health expert. Since mid-June 2024, the former Minister of Health and former leader of the Austrian Social Democratic Party has been head of the office in Stockholm, which was entrusted with additional agendas by the EU in 2022 and is intended to make a significant global contribution to public health for the member states, but also indirectly through intensive contacts with comparable offices in other countries and parts of the world (e.g. CDC/USA, Canada, China, Japan, ASEAN states, CDC/Africa).

"Without international cooperation in the context of infectious diseases, we are half blind," said Rendi-Wagner. The concept of "One Health", in which aspects of veterinary and human medicine are considered together, closes "blind spots". A current example is the spread of H5N1 avian influenza in the USA and Canada, where the pathogens have penetrated livestock farming, including milk production.

"Need more trust from the population"
Overall, according to the expert, it is important to learn the lessons from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and develop measures that will make countries and the world as a whole better prepared than they were in 2019/2020. "We must become faster. We need to work better together. We need more trust from the population," said Rendi-Wagner.

Interestingly, the ECDC - basically with the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC/Atlanta) as a model - was founded 20 years ago based on the experience with SARS at the time. "In 2022, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, our ECDC was strengthened by important EU decisions and given a new mandate in the fight against infectious diseases. We are not only describing things, but we are now also assessing the situation and have been obliged to develop recommendations and guidelines," explained the ECDC Director.

Better integration of different data sources
Surveillance of epidemiological developments during the Covid-19 pandemic has worked quite well in itself. However, the aim should be to better integrate different data sources, for example wastewater investigations.

"The goal is real-time surveillance so that we know what is happening in which country, in which region. If we can provide answers more quickly, this will also lead to greater trust among the population." Communication must become more transparent and easier to understand. Using Austria as an example, the aim is to merge the data from the electronic patient file (ELGA) and the epidemiological reporting system (EMS) to monitor the epidemiological situation.

In any case, the ECDC is equipped with new agendas for the EU member states and cooperation partners. "For the first time, we can carry out missions in the member states and analyze the level of pandemic preparedness. Six member states have already taken advantage of this," said Rendi-Wagner. If requested, a team of ten to twelve experts from other member states would carry out such an assessment locally on 16 topics.

However, ECDC Director Rendi-Wagner added that separate "Health Task Forces" as expert groups would also be increasingly active internationally. "We have been in Congo since the outbreak of Mpox (monkeypox; note)." Only recently, the Minister of Health of Rwanda asked for an ECDC team to be sent to assess the situation surrounding an outbreak of the Marburg virus in this country and to confirm the end of the outbreak. In addition, ECDC is helping to strengthen public health in the Western Balkans with the EU accession countries there, in Turkey, Moldova and Ukraine, in order to achieve EU status.

"Threat to the cohesion of society"
However, it is very important to regain and strengthen people's trust. "The pandemic has shown us how quickly people's trust can be lost - in politics, in science, in medicine. You need trust before the crisis. But you also only trust someone you know. You need clear and effective communication with people. We must not hide behind our scientific language," said the expert.

According to Rendi-Wagner, the biggest problems for public health apart from preparing for the next pandemic are two issues: "Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats we have to deal with." However, the declining vaccination rates in many EU countries against infectious diseases that are actually easily preventable are extremely worrying.

There should be no mistake: "Every health crisis and every pandemic not only threatens people's health and lives. They also pose a threat to the cohesion of society," says Rendi-Wagner.