Risk of another pandemic crisis remains, Ong Ye Kung tells attendees at Geneva event

SINGAPORE – The world cannot lapse into complacency or let its attention drift as it edges closer to the next pandemic, said Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung.

Even though the Covid-19 crisis has passed, the risk of another pandemic crisis remains, said Mr Ong, noting that its impact could be even more devastating.

He pointed to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration of an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda as a public health emergency of international concern, as well as hantavirus infections in other regions.

“These are timely reminders that infectious disease threats continue to emerge and evolve,” he said.

Mr Ong was speaking at an event on global pandemic preparedness and response held in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 19.

Organised by the Communicable Diseases Agency Singapore (CDA), the Robert Koch Institute and the WHO, the event was held on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA).

Mr Ong, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, noted that as modern aviation allows pathogens to spread more quickly, key aviation nodes should “consistently and responsibly” detect novel pathogens, sequence them and share their findings.

Singapore is one such node, he said, adding that a new pathogen detected in the country is likely to rapidly spread across the region and the world.

“What the world can be assured of is this: Singapore will share what we know – freely, quickly and transparently, with no strings attached,” he said.

Singapore has built wide-ranging partnerships for information-sharing, and the country’s Ministry of Health (MOH) signed a health cooperation memorandum of understanding with the Philippines as part of the WHA, Mr Ong said.

MOH inked another such agreement with Finland on May 19 on cooperation in areas such as community care for seniors and technology in health, while the CDA will sign an MOU with China’s National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, he added.

The Republic is also hosting global science initiative GISAID’s data science centre at A*STAR’s Bioinformatics Institute, supporting its data processing operations.

Vaccine production remains “a ticket out of any pandemic involving a novel pathogen”, Mr Ong said.

To that end, Singapore supports the efforts of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which aims to develop safe and effective vaccines within 100 days of identifying a new pandemic threat.

It does so via technical exchanges and research collaborations, as well as continued contributions to the coalition, Mr Ong said, adding that scientists in Singapore are aligning domestic vaccine research and development efforts with CEPI’s mission.

“Given our experience with SARS and Covid-19, we are devoting our resources to developing vaccines against coronaviruses,” he said.

At a separate event by CEPI on May 19, Mr Ong announced that Singapore will contribute US$12 million (S$15.4 million) to CEPI between 2027 and 2030.

CEPI chief executive Richard Hatchett said that such investments “help strengthen the world’s disease defences so we are ready to respond rapidly and equitably to emerging viral threats”.

Mr Ong noted that faster and trusted regulatory pathways for vaccines are needed.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore approved vaccines through its Pandemic Special Access Route, drawing on the best available evidence to make timely decisions, he said, adding that such pathways could be scaled internationally.

Rather than relying on a single regulatory authority during a pandemic, a network of trusted national regulators could be formed, he said, noting such a network could work alongside existing processes, such as the WHO pre-qualification process. “To be clear, ultimately, every jurisdiction still makes its own decision, but the network can help speed up the work, and its assessment will be a good reference,” he said.

Manufacturing capacity for vaccines is also needed, said Mr Ong, describing vaccine inequality – worsened by export restrictions and insufficient production capacity – as a huge problem during the Covid-19 pandemic.

While Singapore has attracted investments in vaccine production from multinationals, the ability of their facilities to pivot to pandemic vaccine production in a crisis remains untested, he noted.

“Ultimately, our collective goal should be a global network of production facilities that can eliminate vaccine inequality and serve as a safety net for all. Supporting such a network requires countries to eschew export controls and keep supply chains intact during a pandemic.”

While the world is in a better position than it was five years ago, pandemic preparedness relies on building global systems that can move fast in a crisis, said Mr Ong.

“Our action today will translate into many lives saved in the future,” he added.

During the WHO assembly, SingHealth was awarded the Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health Promotion.