Jinghua Cao Attends the AASSA-PAS Webinar Series on Pandemic Preparedness: Science and Countermeasures

19 05, 2021

Jinghua Cao, Executive Director of the ANSO Secretariat, gave a talk online titled “Tackling the Pandemic with Science, Technology and International Cooperation” at the AASSA-PAS Webinar Series on Pandemic Preparedness: Science and Countermeasures on 4 May 2021. The webinar series were co-organized by the Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA) and Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS). Over 30 experts, scientists and medical doctors from China, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Turkey, Pakistan, etc. attended the meeting, sharing lessons and insights learned from the joint fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and discussing the challenges and issues of major concern towards the future joint efforts.

Cao gave a brief summary of the major efforts committed by ANSO in the fight against the pandemic, from donating masks and testing kits at the start to the sharing of the genomic databases as well as the forecasting and analysis of the pandemic; from organizing a series of international workshops and webinars for sharing the research progress and results to playing a key role in successfully conducting the phase III clinical trials of a Chinese recombinant protein vaccine in Uzbekistan. Its acquisition of Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in Uzbekistan enabled its getting EUA in China. He also took the opportunity to thank the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and the Quaid-i-Azam University for the significant bridging role they played in the facilitation of the cooperative efforts in the fight against the pandemic. Cao expressed the wish and expectation to further strengthen cooperation and partnerships with the international scientific community in tackling the pandemic and in building a better future for global good.

The AASSA is a non-profit international organization with science, technology and innovation (STI) interests launched in 2012. It consists scientific and technological academies and science societies in Asia and Oceania, and now has more than 33 national academies and societies of sciences from about 30 countries and one regional academy of engineering and technology.