Will Technology Rather Than Vaccination Be the Way to Control Pandemics?

At policy level for the COVID-19 pandemic two main themes emerge, containment of infection (testing, tracing, and isolation) and vaccination. The pandemic has stimulated rapid development of vaccine candidates that are in various phases of clinical trials, some of which are advanced with regulatory approvals expected early in the new year. However, even with vaccination on the horizon there are multiple constraints to overcome before this pandemic will be consigned to history. The enormous task of vaccine production and distribution, possibly involving repeated vaccinations and management of non-compliance within populations are a major challenge for 21 century Global Public Health policy. Multiple “waves” of infection are expected to sweep across the globe in the coming winter months, confounded with seasonal flu and other winter viral infections. Once this pandemic is vanquished how do we prepare more effectively for the next? Emerging infections are becoming more and more frequent with increased human encroachment into animal habitats and increased pandemic preparedness is needed. Communication is critical between governments to develop and adopt synergistic technologies for global prevention and control, to address bottlenecks for essential medicines and equipment and to work together in biosecurity to mitigate risks of emerging infectious diseases, putting in place robust and effective surveillance and control measures. Smartphone technology is becoming ubiquitous and many countries have developed tracing apps to inform a user of potential exposure to an infected person and to support and in some cases enforce self-isolation to prevent viral spread. However, never had there been such high demand for diagnostic