Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as lockdowns and masks are mostly pathogen agnostic, therefore they can be prepared beforehand and deployed within hours of discovering an emerging pandemic.

Lockdowns would almost certainly be necessary in the early days of any catastrophic pandemic. But they are a blunt tool, and we would still need to protect critical workers to provide healthcare, food, water and electricity.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a key part of this. As of 2022, the US Strategic National Stockpile only had [enough N95 respirators to cover essential workers for 10-20 days](https://fas.org/publication/resilience-caches-reusable-respirators/#:~:text=Some%20illustrative%20math%3A%20there%20are%20approximately%2050%20million%20essential%20workers%20in%20the%20United%20States%2C%20but%20as%20of%202022%20our%20Strategic%20National%20Stockpile%20only%20had%20about%20540%20million%20disposable%20N95%20respirators.%20This%20is%20barely%20enough%20to%20last%2010%20days). Many other countries are in similar or worse conditions.

We can also do more to prevent pathogen transmission in indoor spaces. Air filtration would be valuable in a pandemic scenario, but can also have massive health and productivity benefits in non-pandemic times. Far-UVC and glycol vapours are also being explored as promising technologies to reduce indoor pathogen transmission, although we don’t yet have conclusive studies on their safety and efficacy.


NPI overview

NPI deep-dive

Pick 1 of the following 2 topics to dive deeper into. We've given you some resources on the following pages as a starting point.

- **Option 1: Pandemic-proof PPE**
- **Option 2: Biohardening indoor spaces**

Aim to answer the following questions:
- What are the intended goals of this intervention?
- What is the current state of this intervention?
- What are the technical or policy blockers to having the intervention ready to deploy effectively in a pandemic?

You will bring the results of your research to share in your group discussion.


Option 1: Pandemic-proof PPE

This option focuses on two technologies, far-UVC and glycol vapours.

**Far-UVC**

Early lab studies indicate that far-UVC is effective at reducing airborne pathogen transmission and safe for humans, but real-world data is needed. This technology isn’t rapidly scalable in the event of a pandemic, so would rely on people installing it in peacetime to control common infections like colds and flu.

**Glycol vapours**

Studies on glycol vapours are more nascent. Propylene glycol (PG) vapour is used in theatrical fog and e-cigarettes, but also has antimicrobial properties. It’s unlikely that people would want theatre fog in their offices all the time, but it could be rapidly manufactured and deployed in the event of a pandemic.


Option 2: Biohardening indoor spaces

Biosecurity

Discover pathogen-agnostic defences deployable within hours: next-generation PPE, far-UVC air treatment, and biohardening strategies that protect people before we know what we're facing.

Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions

Building biodefences is both urgent and achievable: pandemics have killed millions, AI and synthetic biology are creating new threats, but a radically more pandemic-proof world is possible.

Building a Pandemic-Proof World

Examine upstream interventions that stop threats before they emerge: AI safeguards, DNA synthesis screening, the Biological Weapons Convention, lab biosafety standards, and governance of risky research.

Preventing Engineered Pandemics

Learn how metagenomic sequencing can detect novel pathogens, how to rapidly characterise emerging threats, and how swift containment can stop transmission before widespread outbreaks.

Detecting Early Infections

Explore how to accelerate vaccine development, and how broad-spectrum antivirals can treat multiple threats before pathogen-specific treatments exist.

Rapid Medical Countermeasures

Map the biosecurity landscape and identify where your specific skills can contribute: organisations hiring across policy and technology, concrete projects seeking talent, and pathways into the field.

Biosecurity

NPI overview

Resources (1 hr 30 mins)