DISEASE X: Moving from Global Failure to Global Readiness

Join us for this hybrid event with Kate Kelland, Chief Scientific Writer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

ABOUT

The 2020–2023 pandemic exposed how unprepared the world was for a fast‑moving new pathogen.

Despite decades of warning signs, COVID‑19 brought death and devastation to societies and economies because we simply were not ready.

In this talk, journalist and author Kate Kelland draws on her 2023 book DISEASE X to explore why that failure happened, what nearly went right, and how, if the world gets the science, policy and global cooperation right, it could finally break the cycle of panic and neglect.

Kate will also discuss the 100 Days Mission – a pandemic‑busting plan to develop and deploy new vaccines against emerging disease threats before they spiral out of control.

From experimental vaccines produced in days to the systems still holding us back, this is a story about speed, equity and choice – and why the next Disease X pandemic threat doesn’t have to be a repeat of the last.

SPEAKER

Kate Kelland is an author, former award-winning health and science journalist, and now Chief Scientific Writer at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Until mid-2021, Kate was a global health correspondent for Reuters, where she won multiple national and international journalism awards over a 27-year reporting career.

When she joined CEPI in August 2021, Kate embarked on writing a book about pandemic preparedness and control. That book, , was published in hardback in the UK in February 2023 and is now available internationally in a softback edition.

PRACTICAL

• This is a hybrid event: In-person attendance is in Ellen Wilkinson Building; Online attendance is via Zoom.
• Register for details & reminders
• More on the hosts at: https://www.hcri.ac.uk/

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