Thread by @kakape

Here is the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board adding its voice:
"If governments and the public continue to focus on the severity of the variant, which is yet to be determined, there is a real risk that we miss the opportunity to prevent and slow down the spread of Omicron"

"Optimistic predictions are based on limited evidence, bringing false comfort and lulling some countries into a state of inaction. We cannot make the same mistakes again.”
gpmb.org/news/news/item…

“Curbing transmission of Omicron in the next few weeks is essential. Acting fast and erring on the side of caution is the right way forward. If we don’t act now, it will be too late.”

They call for 7 steps:

1. Enforce NPIs and encourage the public to comply, to slow the spread of #omicron
2. Avoid unnecessary measures that cause more harm than good, like indiscriminate school closures or travel bans
3. Prepare health systems
4. Scale up surveillance and share data with WHO

5. Address “the huge inequity in access to vaccines and other countermeasures”
6. Make sure pharma works closely with international public health agencies so that development/production of vaccines and therapies are based on quite and science not driven by market forces

7. invest in research and distributed manufacturing for next generation Covid drugs and vaccines but also for future pandemic diseases, "so we can break this cycle of variants, restrictions, and panic, and have the tools the world needs to counter health threats"