Calum Semple is a respiratory and infectious disease professor in Liverpool. He has been part of the governmental advice team for pandemics since before COVID. We spoke to him in advance of his talk at the 2024 PCCS conference
What is the frequency of pandemics? Is the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic the last “real” one, or do MARS, SERS, and H1N1 “count”?
What is a W shaped mortality, and why does this matter? Where will the next pandemic pathogen come from? What were the case fatality rates from previous pandemics?
We have heard of MPox: is this a problem?
How important are multi resistant bacteria, and of what relevance is chicken’s drinking water?
What can we do about all this? With novel vaccine technology (remember PicPod 52?), how long would it take to get a vaccine up and running? And then how do we convince the population to take the vaccine? Can we use social influencers and clinic patients?
How important are platform trials? How would digital NHS connectivity help? How useful is the COVID19 enquiry?
And when should we rebuild something which is broken?
Pandemics are not over. There will be more….
CORRECTION: At 12 minutes, Prof. Semple incorrectly refers to the film titled Children of God when he meant to refer to the film Children of Men ((Alfonso Cuarón, 2006).
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