Study urges increased EU pandemic planning

LONDON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A British-led study says the European Union urgently needs to develop a coordinated plan to deal with a potentially catastrophic influenza pandemic.

The report says inadequate border control and poor on-the-ground administration and delivery of antivirals and vaccines could threaten EU security.

"Governments need to work with their neighbors, sharing best practices and strategic thinking openly," said study leader Richard Coker of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control might have successfully established pan-European surveillance procedures, but the current significant differences in countries’ pandemic plans are likely to test any notion of global solidarity or security."

Coker said panic and ultimately chaos will result unless governmental operational procedures are defined and tested in advance of a pandemic.

"The absence of international cooperation on border control is alarming, and raises the ugly specter of people detained without warning, and possibly against their will, when they are travelling from one country to another."

The report is to be published in an upcoming issue of the World Health Organization Bulletin.