Antibiotic Resistance Could Cause the Next Pandemic. Here’s How the Biden Administration Can Tackle It

As Joe Biden enters the White House this month, his most urgent priority is getting a grip on COVID-19, starting with  a campaign built around 100 (million) shots in 100 days. But a national security priority for the next few years will be preventing the next pandemic, and a vital part of that should be leading a global effort to protect one of our most important infection-fighting tools: antibiotics.

There are a number of potential sources for future pandemics. Perhaps a bioterror research effort that somehow slips past all four of the staff members worldwide supporting implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention. Or another virus—perhaps a new strain of Nipah or a coronavirus—might make its way from animals to humans. But a considerable and growing threat comes from a mutated strain of bacteria invulnerable to antibiotics like penicillin or tetracycline.