Fight Hantavirus With Innovation, Not Bureaucracy

Hantavirus is causing concern across the world—and reminding many of a certain pandemic that happened six years ago. On May 12, USA Today reported, “At least 18 people are currently under observation at two of the nation’s top medical centers after being potentially exposed to hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of the deadly outbreak.” While hantavirus almost certainly won’t morph into a COVID-level catastrophe, it’s critical that policymakers are prepared. That involves recalling the lessons from COVID. The next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should reverse course on the agency’s hostility toward mRNA vaccines, while the Trump administration should avoid working with failed bureaucracies such as the World Health Organization (WHO). The federal government can keep Americans safe—but only by avoiding the mistakes of the past.

New vaccines are already in the works to keep hantavirus at bay. On May 11, Wired reported, “US-based pharmaceutical company Moderna confirmed that it has been working on the development of [mRNA] hantavirus vaccines in collaboration with the Vaccine Innovation Center of Korea University College of Medicine (VIC-K).” However, these new tools will never reach patients if regulators refuse to greenlight them.

The FDA doesn’t have the most promising track record in approving innovative mRNA vaccines. In a widely-reported debacle, the agency—and more specifically former Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research director Vinay Prasad—refused to examine an application by Moderna for its first mRNA seasonal flu vaccine. The refusal came even after the FDA previously said it had no issues with Moderna’s study design—which thoroughly tested for safety and efficacy. This immediately chilled innovation amongst vaccine manufacturers. In an interview with the New York Post, Moderna President Dr. Stephen Hoge stated, “The rules of the game [are] being changed after the game has been played.” The move “… will make it very hard to invest in making new medicines and cures in this country.” The FDA subsequently reversed course and agreed to examine the application following White House pressure. Now that Prasad and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary are gone, hopefully the agency can turn the page on this sorry chapter.

Domestic policy notwithstanding, it is critical that the U.S. keeps its distance from flawed global bureaucracies such as the WHO. According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the U.S. should learn from the hantavirus outbreak and “see how important universality is for health security.” In other words, the U.S. should reverse course and rejoin the WHO. This would be a grave mistake. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO infamously became China’s accomplice in covering up early coronavirus cases and deflecting blame. The WHO’s now-infamous 2020 tweet, declaring that “Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission,” exposed the stunning incompetence of the global organization. Very quickly, the WHO’s gross mismanagement of the COVID crisis came into full public view. Back during the early days of the virus, University of North Carolina scholar Dr. Zeynep Tufekci invited readers of The Atlantic to imagine a world where the organization did not, “stick disturbingly close to China’s official positions, including its transparent cover-ups.”

This was hardly the WHO’s first virus-related misstep. The WHO similarly bungled the response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak. U.S. taxpayers should not be asked to bankroll a global bureaucracy woefully incapable of protecting people from deadly viruses.

Hopefully, American policymakers learn from previous public health crises and prioritize innovation over bureaucracy.