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Covid-19 and the Need for Enhanced U.S.-Israel Technology Cooperation

(Foundation for Defense of Democracies) Brig.-Gen. (res.) Jacob Nagel and John Hannah - Israel has emerged as a superpower in terms of its capabilities to develop cutting-edge technologies in the fields of biotechnology and the life sciences. More than 1,400 companies operate in the medical innovation sector, developing transformative technologies to detect and treat an array of serious illnesses. Thousands of the world's most accomplished scientists and engineers from the life sciences and many other disciplines have set aside their usual work and research to focus full-time on the war against the pandemic. These private sector actors are part of an extraordinarily rich biotech ecosystem that is supported by the government and also encompasses world-class academic institutions and medical centers with a proven track record of rapidly bringing life-saving breakthroughs to market. In recognition of Israel's role as a global hub of biotech excellence, billions of dollars in foreign investment have flowed to Israeli firms and research institutions over the past decade. Israel has defined several main vectors for battling Covid-19 in the short term, including: rapid identification of virus carriers; short-circuiting the virus' transmission to larger populations; building accurate models that analyze all relevant data to understand the virus' behavior and inform "exit strategies" for reopening society once infection rates flatten; and developing better tools for treating hospitalized patients while protecting medical personnel. Over the longer term, the goal is to develop effective anti-viral therapies and, ultimately, an efficient vaccine that will dramatically reduce the threat posed by the virus. Brig.-Gen. (res.) Jacob Nagel, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, previously served as acting national security advisor and head of Israel's National Security Council. John Hannah, senior counselor at FDD, is a former national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney.
2020-04-21 00:00:00
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