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China Targets COVID Scientist and Moderna Cancels Vaccine Project in Kenya
Better health begins with ideas
Editors' Note
Kicking off this week, CFR Senior Fellow Yanzhong Huang depicts how Zhang Yongzhen, a Chinese scientist who defied his government by publishing a genome for SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus before anyone else, was locked out of his lab by authorities. Huang explains what the incident says about the politicization of COVID-related research.
Switching to pandemic preparedness, Resolve to Save Lives' Amanda McClelland discusses why countries should have readily available, flexible funding for disease outbreaks. McClelland showcases several examples from Africa, including a pilot conducted by her organization in Nigeria that allowed for a swift response to COVID-19 before the disease was officially declared a pandemic.
Zooming in to Kenya, the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Bryan Mercurio explains what Moderna's recent decision to pause construction of a $200 million vaccine production plant means for supply chains and pandemic preparedness.
Switching gears, journalist Rachel Nuwer interviews Kenji Watanabe, an immunologist specializing in kampo, a type of traditional herbal medicine practiced in Japan. She explores his successful efforts to include East Asian traditional medicine in global health policy.
To wrap up the week, TGH Founding Editor Thomas J. Bollyky hosted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Principal Deputy Director Nirav Shah for a conversation on his agency's response to the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in dairy cows.
Until next week!—Nsikan Akpan, Managing Editor, and Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor
