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.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Government , Humans , Japan/epidemiology , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
The Japan Medical Association (JMA) focused on the dissemination of information on the novel coronavirus infection to its members, grasped the plight of the medical community, and made various requests to the government. A cruise ship, which had already been infected on board, entered the port of Yokohama, and a JMAT (Japan Medical Association Team) was dispatched as a special case of disaster to respond to the passengers and crew in an emergency. Faced with the danger of medical collapse due to the difficulty of maintaining the examination system and securing hospital beds when physicians deem it necessary, we have made all-out efforts to implement measures such as declaring a medical crisis situation. We continue to set out our future plans.