The Importance of Biobanking for Response to Pandemics Caused by Emerging Viruses: The European Virus Archive As an Observatory of the Global Response to the Zika Virus and COVID-19 Crisis

Access and benefit-sharing by the European Virus Archive in response to COVID-19

“…Existing biobanking networks structures are global public goods and should be brought to the forefront of attention during pathogen access and benefit-sharing discussions as the main actors for rapid, efficient, impartial, and safe access to pathogen genetic resources, and fair and equitable benefit-sharing. 15 , 16 , 17…”

“…Finally, continuous access to pathogen genetic resources after crises is crucial to build preparedness to future outbreaks, as exemplified by the rapid development of the first SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test that was only possible due to the availability of the historical severe acute respiratory syndrome materials in biobanking infrastructures and associated sequences in open-access databases. 8 , 15 , 16 , 17…”

“…In May, 2021, WHO and the Swiss Confederation launched the BioHub initiative, which has an objective to set up a global system for the sharing of pathogen and clinical material to facilitate the rapid development of medical countermeasures as global public goods. 21 Given the contribution by the EVA network to the current global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and many other epidemics, 16 it is unclear why policy makers are considering the development of a completely new system when there are existing and functioning infrastructures that can be used. Instead of building a new infrastructure out of nothing, the EVA model could be expanded and made permanent.…”

The value of virtual biobanks for transparency purposes with respect to reagents and samples used during test development and validation

“…In the early stages of the pandemic, diagnostic polymerase chain reaction tests and positive controls were not widely available. Once the genomic sequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) became available, EVAg Members rapidly developed virus stocks, diagnostic tests and positive controls and, within ten weeks, over 1,500 products had been distributed worldwide for diagnostic or research purposes (19).…”

Access and benefit-sharing of the pathogenic microorganisms such as SARS-CoV-2

“…The usual time between ordering and receiving products from E.V.A. is 2–3 weeks, but during COVID-19, an emergency procedure to check and approve or deny access to SARS-CoV-2-related products in less than 24 hours [29] , which has significantly improved the sharing efficiency.…”