Oxford University is launching an effort to bring together academic, industry and government experts from around the world to use the lessons learned from COVID-19 in the fight against future pandemics.
The Pandemic Sciences Centre will unite Oxford researchers in disciplines ranging from immunology and public health to computing and social sciences in an effort to improve the rapid identification of and response to emerging threats, the university said in a statement released Friday.
The center will seek to form partnerships with experts around Britain and in other countries, in hope of avoiding the disjointed policies and international competition that slowed the response to COVID-19.
“The reality is this was a bad pandemic, but it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been,” John Bell, the Regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, told the Associated Press. “And I think the imperative to get ourselves better organized for a whole range of potential pandemics is now going to be apparent to everybody.’’
