Turning pandemic lessons into action on medical countermeasures
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that access to safe, effective and affordable vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics depends not only on their availability, but also on effective systems for procurement, allocation, regulation and deployment. Regional assessments conducted after the pandemic highlighted opportunities to strengthen understanding of the evolving global and regional medical countermeasures (MCMs) landscape and better align national preparedness plans with WHO guidance and global allocation mechanisms. They also underscored the importance of stronger operational planning and decision-making capacities for MCM access, allocation, stockpiling and deployment, tailored to national contexts and capacities.
Testing preparedness before the next pandemic
To support these efforts, the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, in collaboration with WHO headquarters, convened a regional meeting centred on a tabletop simulation examining how countries would allocate and deploy MCMs during a future respiratory pandemic.
The regional meeting on planning access, allocation and deployment of MCMs for influenza and other respiratory viruses of pandemic potential, held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 29–31 July 2026, brought together officials from ministries of health, National Influenza Centres, National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups, the South-East Asia Regulatory Network, technical partners and WHO. Participants explored approaches to strengthening preparedness for equitable access to MCMs during epidemics and pandemics caused by respiratory pathogens.
On day two, the multicountry tabletop simulation exercise tested decision-making across key stages of the response, including outbreak detection, regulatory authorization, prioritization of target groups, supply chain management, deployment logistics and risk communication. Through the exercise, countries identified operational bottlenecks and priority actions, including strengthening coordination across vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, improving stockpiling and supply chain mechanisms and enhancing procurement and deployment to inform stronger national deployment and vaccination plans and enhance preparedness for future pandemics.
The meeting also strengthened engagement with the interim Medical Countermeasures Network, fostering closer collaboration and coordination among countries and partners to support future epidemic and pandemic responses.
Building readiness for equitable access
Supported through the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework Partnership Contribution (PIP PC), the meeting contributed to regional efforts to strengthen preparedness for access to MCMs during influenza and other respiratory pathogen pandemics. It advanced implementation of Output 4 on access to MCMs under the PIP PC High-Level Implementation Plan III and supported broader regional preparedness objectives under the International Health Regulations (2005), the Pandemic Agreement, the Regional Roadmap and Strategic Action Framework for Respiratory Pathogen Pandemic Preparedness and Response (2026–2031), and the Banyan Framework for Health and Well-being in the WHO South-East Asia Region (2026–2028).
By bringing countries together to test plans, identify operational challenges and strengthen coordination mechanisms, the exercise helped build practical readiness to support the rapid and equitable allocation and deployment of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics during future pandemics.