‘Cycles of panic and neglect’: Head of Pandemic Prevention Institute explains its early death

When public health specialist Rick Bright launched the Pandemic Prevention Institute (PPI) under the aegis of the Rockefeller Foundation last year, he recognized that several other efforts—some old, some new—had similarly ambitious visions for how to make the world safer from pathogens. “No one can do it all,” Bright told Science in October 2021, when the institute was 7 months old. “We have to now come together to decide how we divide and conquer this ecosystem.” But as Bloomberg revealed on 26 September, Rockefeller now has unexpectedly decided to break apart PPI, to which it had pledged $150 million over 3 years. In particular, it will fold some of PPI’s work into the foundation’s increasing efforts on climate change, which many scientists argue will increase outbreaks of novel threats by altering the movements of pathogen-carrying animals and increasing their interactions with humans. And as a result of this strategic shift, Bright is leaving Rockefeller. Bright has had a high-profile career and, before joining Rockefeller, became embroiled in a controversy that made headlines. For 5 years, Bright headed the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which had a $1 billion budget to fund diagnostics, treatments, and prevention tools like vaccines and masks. Battles with his boss about how to best use BARDA funds and criticism of former President Donald Trump’s scientifically unfounded push to use h...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research