Building resilience: Enhancing biosafety, biosecurity, and pandemic preparedness

The world just lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 7 million reported direct deaths globally, more than 775 million reported cases, more than 14 million indirect excess deaths, and likely millions more unreported deaths. At the same time, bird flu is currently spreading widely among birds and cattle herds in the U.S., increasing the likelihood for another potential pandemic. Despite the devastating effects of pandemics on people and economies around the world, most countries, including the U.S., seem ill-prepared for another pandemic, whether caused by a natural spillover, by a lab accident, or intentional misuse.

On April 30, the Center on Regulation and Markets held a public event to examine how we can become more resilient against biological threats by enhancing biosafety, biosecurity, and pandemic preparedness.

Viewers joined the conversation and asked questions in advance by emailing [email protected] and on X @BrookingsEcon using #BuildingResilience.