IFPMA very much welcomes the holistic approach of WHO to influenza preparedness. We acknowledge that a well performing GISRS, implementation of the Global Influenza Strategy 2019-2030 and ensuring the success of the PIP Framework’s objectives are key to this preparedness. IFPMA would also like to fully support WHO’s call for further sensitizing Member States to the importance of timely influenza virus sharing.
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the criticality of fast, timely and unrestricted access to pathogen information in allowing the development of medical countermeasures and understanding the genomic epidemiology of the virus. Such should also hold true for any pathogen of epidemic or pandemic potential, and we hope any update to the IHR takes the need for timely and unrestricted pathogen sharing into account.