Coronavirus origins: WHO calls for more experts to apply to join Sago team
- UN health body has reopened applications for three days, soon after public consultation on original nominees closed
- The new advisory group will be tasked with guiding research into the origins of this and future outbreaks
The UN body on Monday said it had reopened the application period for three additional days to encourage more experts in the fields of social science, anthropology, ethics, political science, as well as biosafety and biosecurity, to apply.
Twenty-six experts were nominated for the new permanent body known as the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, or Sago, last month. The list was then released for a two-week public consultation – standard practice when such bodies are formed – which closed on Wednesday.
Though the original call for applicants asked for experts in “ethics and social sciences” to apply, the 26 proposed members were health and science professionals. The group included two scientists who were identified by the WHO as experts in lab biosecurity.
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But the formation of the body – charged with guiding research into the origins of this and future outbreaks and building a framework for how such investigations should be run – has come under significantly more scrutiny than is typical for a new WHO advisory group.