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Emerg Infect Dis
. 2021 Oct;27(10):1-9.
doi: 10.3201/eid2710.204685.
Proactive Engagement of the Expert Meeting in Managing the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Epidemic, Japan, February-June 2020
Tomoya Saito, Kaori Muto, Mikihito Tanaka, Nobuhiko Okabe, Hitoshi Oshitani, Satoshi Kamayachi, Yoshihiro Kawaoka, Akihiko Kawana, Motoi Suzuki, Kazuhiro Tateda, Hitomi Nakayama, Masaki Yoshida, Akifumi Imamura, Fumio Ohtake, Norio Ohmagari, Ken Osaka, Mitsuo Kaku, Tomimasa Sunagawa, Kazutoshi Nakashima, Hiroshi Nishiura, Koji Wada, Shigeru Omi, Takaji Wakita
- PMID: 34546168
- DOI: 10.3201/eid2710.204685
Abstract
To deal with the risk of emerging diseases with many unknowns, close and timely collaboration and communication between science experts and policymakers are crucial to developing and implementing an effective science-based intervention strategy. The Expert Meeting, an ad hoc medical advisory body, was established in February 2020 to advise Japan's COVID-19 Response Headquarters. The group played an important role in the policymaking process, promoting timely situation awareness and developing science-based proposals on interventions that were promptly reflected in government actions. However, this expert group may have been overly proactive in taking on the government's role in crisis management. For the next stage of managing the coronavirus disease pandemic and future pandemics, the respective roles of the government and its advisory bodies need to be clearly defined. Leadership and strategic risk communication by the government are key.
Keywords: COVID-19; Japan; SARS-CoV-2; communicable diseases; coronavirus disease; health communication; policy making; public health practice; respiratory infections; risk assessment; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; viruses; zoonoses.