Countries should brace for more pandemics to ensure they will not be repeating the same mistakes they made in dealing with the health crisis spawned by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, said Anh Wartel, deputy director general of the Clinical, Assessment, Regulatory, Evaluation Unit of the International Vaccine Institute, at the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS).
She urged countries to continue surveillance efforts, boost vaccine research and development and manufacturing capability and strengthen regulatory environment and health systems.
SEADS 2022, "Sustainable Solutions for Southeast Asia's Recovery," was held on 16–17 March.
