The Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense (July 2019)

Meeting Video On YouTube

#14,188


Four years ago, in The Blue Ribbon Study Panel Report on Biodefense,
we examined an 84 page Bipartisan Report of The Blue Ribbon Study Panel On Biodefense that looked at our nation’s vulnerability to a biological attack, an accidental release, or naturally occurring pandemic with a highly pathogenic biological agent.

While the `intentional release’ of a bio-engineered pathogen might sound like the product of a Hollywood studio, the tools and knowledge required to create enhanced or synthetic life forms become more affordable and accessible every year.   

What once might only have been possible in a multi-million dollar lab can now be done on a limited budget in a basement somewhere (see 2018's  National Academy Of Sciences: Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology).

But even if you discount a deliberate attack, we’ve seen lab accidents involving  `select agents’ – like Anthrax, Ebola, H5N1, and even Smallpox – over the past few years, many involving government labs (see CDC Grand Rounds - Strengthening A Culture of Lab Safety).

How many other accidents that have gone unreported around the globe is unknown.  

And of course, Nature's laboratory is open 24/7 - is constantly tinkering and tweaking pathogens -  and has proven more than capable of generating epidemics and pandemics in the past.

All of which brings us to the most recent meeting of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel On Biodefense, held on July 11th in New York City. - called:

A Manhattan Project for Biodefense: Taking Biological Threats Off the Table

Their description reads:

Eighty years ago, the United States began leading a research and development effort to produce the world’s first nuclear weapons. Military and federal agencies, academia, industry, government contractors, and predecessors of today’s national laboratories worked together –  with a great deal of support from Manhattan, NY and other localities – to establish overwhelming military superiority for the Allies during World War II. Their efforts effectively ended the war.

Today, the challenge is defense against the biological threat, for which we are at a decided disadvantage. No matter what the source – intentional, accidental, or natural – the Nation and the world are at catastrophic biological risk. We need to take this threat off the table for good.

The Panel held a meeting on July 11, 2019 in New York City to discuss A Manhattan Project for Biodefense – a national, public-private research and development undertaking to defend the Nation against biological threats. These threats include biological warfare, bioterrorism, and infectious disease pandemics

Representatives from the same sorts of organizations that contributed to the original Manhattan Project gathered to talk with the Panel about the biological threat, cutting edge biodefense research, needed resources, and business risk. We will also discussed universal flu vaccine as an example of public-private interagency activity.

The meeting's agenda can be viewed  HERE.

And the full recording of the meeting (6 hrs+) can be viewed on YouTube.

Finding ways to impart important information on infectious disease threats outside of academia, and particularly to younger folks, often requires something less tedious than massive technical documents, or 6 hour panel meeting videos.

Social media over the past decade has become the preferred venue, but increasingly we're seeing the use of graphic novels as well.

Last summer the CDC - in conjunction with the USDA and 4H - released an ambitious 60-page graphic novel on swine variant flu and how disease detectives investigate outbreaks.

The Junior Disease Detectives: Operation Outbreak Graphic Novel

This followed a highly successful 2011 CDC preparedness meme (see The CDC And The Zombie Apocalypse), which eventually expanded into a 2-part Graphic Novel preaching preparedness, and a number of tie-in posters and T-Shirts.

Not to be outdone, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense has partnered with Max Brooks (of World War Z fame) to release a 48-page graphic novel on the history of germ warfare.

Germ Warfare

A Very Graphic History
Max Brooks

Max Brooks has partnered with the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense to produce GERM WARFARE: A Very Graphic History, a highly stylized and engaging graphic novel depicting previous biological warfare events, the possibilities for the future, and the continued need for public health security.


FREE Download for Graphic Novel

 
In order to deal with future threats, we need to understand the past.  And this graphic novel seems a terrific tool - particularly for those too young to remember to scourges of Polio, the 1957 pandemic, or the existential threat of the cold war  - to put bio-threats into context.

My infectious disease `eyes-open' moment came at the age of 11, when I read James Leasor’s  The Plague and The Fire which recounts two incredible years in London’s history (1665-1666) - which began with the Great plague, and ended with the Fire of London.

Hopefully, Max Brook's graphic novel will have a similar impact on today's young people.