The effects of the coronavirus pandemic could have been prevented, an independent panel has concluded.
Its report said the "toxic cocktail" of poor coordination and unnecessary debate prevented a swift reaction to the crisis.
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said in its report published Thursday a series of bad decisions led to the pandemic killing more than 3.3 million people worldwide so far. The devastation caused by the crisis also harmed the world economy, the report said.
The panel said international institutions "failed to protect people" and leaders that denied the facts that were brought forward eroded public trust in health interventions.
"The situation we find ourselves in could have been prevented. It is due to myriad failures, gaps and delays in preparedness and response," the report said.
The report said initial warnings of the outbreak in China in December 2019 went unnoticed and there was no sense of urgency from the rest of the world. In February 2020, countries continued to neglect the warnings, which led to costly consequences.
"Poor strategic choices, unwillingness to tackle inequalities and an uncoordinated system created a toxic cocktail which allowed the pandemic to turn into a catastrophic human crisis," the report said.
The report, done at the request of the World Health Organization, studied the responses of world governments to the crisis as well as the possible actions that could have been taken to mitigate the effects of the health crisis. The panel was jointly chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
To tackle the current crisis, the report called on the richest countries to donate some of their vaccines to the poorest nations. It also urged the world's biggest countries to fund organizations dedicated to making preparations for the next pandemic.
As part of its recommendations, the report said the WHO and the World Trade Organization should convince vaccine-producing countries to provide their licensing and technology to other nations so they can manufacture their own. It also suggested that the COVAX program acquire at least 1 billion vaccine doses by September and at least 2 billion by mid-2022.
