Marilyn Cruickshank1,
1 University of Technology Sydney, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, International Federation of Infection Control (IFIC) marilyn.cruickshank@uts.edu.au
In the lead-up to the establishment of an Australian CDC there are no firm decisions about its scope, powers or scale. Experience and lessons from the recent pandemic perfectly place the infection control community to be front and centre of any consultation. Insights from IFIC colleagues COVID-19 in Europe, Africa and the Americas might prove timely.
In 2019 the US was ranked as best-prepared to control an infectious disease outbreak with the UK the second. Similarly, in 2018, WHO deemed 86 percent of countries in Europe at the highest levels of pandemic preparedness, making the region most prepared to manage a novel infectious disease outbreak. Two years into the pandemic, the US endured the highest global death toll from COVID-19, with almost as many dying after vaccinations became available as before, reflecting the cost of deep political division, while Europe experienced the second highest death rate from COVID-19 of any region. Brazil and Cameroon both experienced a lack of national leadership, with their respective communities suffering the consequences of poorly executed strategies.
Wealthy societies with ability to pay for and with logistics of undertaking large-scale vaccination would be assumed to do best. However, it may be that societal trust and cohesion play an even greater role. Societies able to consistently comply with social-distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccination, were likely to be most successful in containing COVID and minimising death. Societies where science was trusted, and where strategies were not seen as a political but a public health issue, were often in the best position to weather the crisis.