Letter from New Zealand.

Abstract

infection already in place, REMAP-CAP was able to recruit its first COVID-19 patient on 9 March 2020, before the pandemic had been officially declared by the World Health Organization.Astempting as it may be to try to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, New Zealand ’ s preparedness for the next pandemic must be a priority and must focus on being science-led, using local and international expertise, and informed by research and reflection. It must be adaptable enough to respond to a range of different pathogens, with different characteristics, rather a single pathogen (as with New Zealand ’ s previous influenza-focused pandemic plan). It should consider what local capacities must be maintained between pandemics (e.g., surveillance and strong public health units), what resources must be available when required (e.g., isolation/quarantine facilities) and what addi-tional capacities may need to be developed in advance (e.g., vaccine manufacturing capability). A pandemic preparedness strategy must be designed to generate data so as research allows the response to ‘ learn ’ as we go. Another pandemic will occur and the short window likely to be afforded while the novel pathogen adapts to be transmit-ted efficiently among human hosts must be all the time it takes for a small, relatively isolated and relatively well-resourced country like New Zealand to respond effectively.