Global Scans · Pandemic · Weekly Summary

A global catastrophic risk is a hypothetical future event that has the potential to damage human well-being on a global scale. Some events could cripple or destroy modern civilization. Any event that could cause human extinction is known as an existential risk.

• [New] Drugmakers forecast next-biggest thing in weight loss medications; Medicare's looming GLP-1 coverage could overwhelm doctors; Moderna is developing an investigational mRNA vaccine amid the Ebola outbreak. MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
• [New] The ECB's survey of inflation expectations on Friday will be a highlight, given how officials there recently delivered the first Group of Seven rate increase after the outbreak of the Iran war. financialpost
• [New] A researcher who studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in Uganda explained that prolonged border disruption could limit access to inputs and ultimately impact productivity. DairyReporter.com
• [New] In 2026, the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa may pose a threat to the sixth largest coffee exporter, Uganda. DairyReporter.com
• [New] In 2026, growth in developing economies is expected to drop to a post-pandemic low of 3.6%, down from 4.4% in 2025, before recovering to 4.2% in 2027. World Bank
• [New] The ongoing Iran war is projected to slow global economic growth to its weakest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic and renewed hostilities could cause it to slump further. CNN
• [New] Vetted developers and US government partners working on pandemic preparedness, biosecurity threat identification, and public health research are eligible. Build Fast with AI
• [New] In a future crisis, such as a major disease outbreak in Africa, countries with nominal local production capacity could be constrained by losing critical Chinese-controlled inputs. Council on Foreign Relations
• [New] Current platforms and product development pathways are insufficient to achieve the APPP goal of developing a vaccine within 100 days after a pandemic threat appears, and producing enough vaccine for the U.S. population by 130 days and the world by 200 days. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] A pregnant woman in Maryland seeing an OB-GYN affiliated with a major academic medical center will likely receive flu and COVID-19 vaccine recommendations this fall. CIDRAP
• The WHO has declared an international public health emergency for the outbreak, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned could swell to become the largest Ebola epidemic on record, rivalling the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa. Al Jazeera
• The US FDA this week recommended that people use serial testing-taking multiple COVID-19 tests over several days - to reduce the risk of a false-negative result and to help prevent people from unknowingly spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus to others. The Council of Industry
• The Biden administration is planning for an end to its practice of paying for Covid-19 shots and treatments, shifting more control of pricing and coverage to the healthcare industry in ways that could generate sales for companies - and costs for consumers - for years to come. The Council of Industry
• U.S. health regulators cleared use of retooled Covid-19 vaccines that target the latest versions of Omicron, in preparation for a fall booster campaign that could start within days. The Council of Industry
• To rebuild trust and advance equity, the world requires independent pandemic risk monitoring, equitable access to countermeasures, and sustainable financing, enabled by sustained political attention. GPMB
• The key to preventing a bigger outbreak will depend on fencing in the screwworm fly, which has been gradually spreading north through Mexico over the past year. Insurance Journal
• The US Department of Agriculture is racing to contain the deadly New World screwworm after a case was detected in Texas, where a broader outbreak could threaten an already-small domestic cattle herd. Insurance Journal
• A major concern is that an AI-designed pathogen could intentionally or unintentionally spark a global pandemic. Wired
• A global pandemic creates a complex medical reality with the potential to impact patient adherence, and it is of interest to investigate its effect on patient adherence regarding common community-acquired infectious diseases. PubMed Central (PMC)
• HBOT may be most appropriate for long COVID patients with vascular dysfunction or neuroinflammation, but more studies are needed to figure out which [type of patient] will have the most benefit at what dosage. Scientific American
• Long COVID could arise from a wide range of underlying mechanisms, from viral persistence to immune dysregulation to vascular damage, and different people may need vastly different treatments. Scientific American
• The Viral Emergence Research Initiative, a multidisciplinary programme led by Yale that aims to predict the next pandemic threats, is still awaiting last year's payment of more than $2 million from the NSF. Scientific American

Last updated: 22 June 2026