Disease X and Davos: This Is Not the Way to Evaluate and Formulate Public Health Policy

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Commentary

[The full PDF of the related report is available here.]

Private Interest and the Development of Pandemic Policy

Public health messaging should provide accurate information so that the public and their leadership can formulate appropriate responses, weighed against society’s competing priorities. Planning for the future requires scarce resources to be concentrated on areas of greatest need and with the expectation that they can achieve the widest benefit. However, policy can become skewed towards narrow vested interests when non-health goals, such as financial profit, come to compete with health benefits during the decision-making process. Thus, decision-making for health policy must be cognizant of, and resistant to, conflicts of interest and narratives that promote those interests.