The SPARS Pandemic 2025–2028: A Futuristic Scenario to Facilitate Medical Countermeasure Communication
Abstract
Effective communication about medical countermeasures—including drugs, devices, and biologics—is often critical in emergency situations. Such communication, however, does not just happen. It must be planned and prepared for. One mechanism to develop communication strategies is through the use of prospective scenarios, which allow readers the opportunity to rehearse responses while also weighing the implications of their actions. This article describes the development of such a scenario: The SPARS Pandemic 2025–2028. Steps in this process included deciding on a time frame, identifying likely critical uncertainties, and then using this framework to construct a storyline covering both the response and recovery phases of a fictional emergency event. Lessons learned from the scenario development and how the scenario can be used to improve communication are also discussed.Exercise Pegasus:
NHS England » Pandemic preparedness & Exercise Pegasus
Agenda item: 7 (Public session) Report by: Sarah-Jane Marsh, National Director for Urgent and Emergency Care and Operations Paper type: For information
www.england.nhs.uk
Pandemic preparedness & Exercise Pegasus
Agenda item: 7 (Public session)Report by: Sarah-Jane Marsh, National Director for Urgent and Emergency Care and Operations
Exercise Pegasus is a Tier 1 exercise (defined as a national-level exercise involving ministerial participation and Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms [COBR] activation) and will take place between September and November 2025. Its key purpose is to simulate a realistic pandemic scenario, and is the first of its kind in nearly a decade.
Pandemic Preparedness: Exercise Pegasus
Volume 772: debated on Tuesday 16 September 2025
Schools locked down again in secret pandemic drills
Exclusive: Exercise Pegasus imagined a virus deadly to children spreading around the world from an island in southeast AsiaSchools across the UK were locked down this autumn as part of a state drill to tackle the threat of a new deadly virus.
Exercise Pegasus, which concluded last month and involved all major government departments, was the biggest pandemic simulation exercise the country has ever held.
Those participating in the drill were told a novel enterovirus had broken out on a fictional Island in southeast Asia before spreading across the world.
Unlike Covid-19, which disproportionately affected older age groups, the new virus was most lethal in the young. The virus, “EV-D68”, was said to cause respiratory failure, brain swelling and – in rare cases – paralysis in infants, children and teenagers.
The spread of the imagined virus resulted in travel restrictions, school and business closures and mask wearing in the UK and around the world.
Enterovirus 68 (EV-D68)
Enterovirus D68 is a member of the Picornaviridae family, an enterovirus. First isolated in California in 1962 and once considered rare, it has been on a worldwide upswing in the 21st century. It is suspected of causing a polio-like disorder called acute flaccid myelitis.
Enterovirus D-68: risk assessment
Public Health England (PHE) risk assessment of the increase in reported cases of Enterovirus D-68 (EV-D68).
Agenda 2030
Last edited:
