Visit by Kamala Harris to the Institut Pasteur: supporting international scientific cooperation and preparing for the future

During her third official overseas trip representing the United States, having been invited by France to attend the fourth Paris Peace Forum, Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States, visited the Institut Pasteur on November 9, 2021.

She met several of the Institut Pasteur's scientists and warmly saluted the unprecedented response of the Institut Pasteur's scientific community in tackling the COVID-19 epidemic for nearly two years. As well as these discussions with scientists, the Vice President was keen to pay tribute to her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a renowned scientist who worked with French researchers in the 1980s, including a team from the Institut Pasteur (see the November 10 issue of the newsletter). But the visit was also an opportunity to celebrate the long-standing cooperation between the United States and the Institut Pasteur and to emphasize the importance of strengthening international scientific cooperation as a means of preparing for the future.

The links between Louis Pasteur, the Institut Pasteur and the United States go back a very long way. The first ties can be traced back to 1886, when Louis Pasteur treated some American children thought to have contracted rabies and was instrumental in setting up local centers to treat rabies patients in the United States. This initial collaboration paved the way for subsequent links between the Institut Pasteur and the United States which gave rise to major scientific advances, such as the discovery of mRNA.

Many scientists are currently working on projects involving collaboration between the Institut Pasteur and US-based teams, supported by the NIH or DARPA, in a variety of fields, including vector-borne diseases, phage therapy and the PICREID project (Pasteur International Center for Research on Emerging Infectious Diseases).

The many key breakthroughs in the history of science, together with the crucial work being carried out by scientists today, illustrate the importance of dialog, exchange and cooperation among the scientific community in tackling health threats. This point was emphasized by Kamala Harris as she visited the Institut Pasteur's laboratories: "To end this pandemic and prepare for the next one, scientific collaboration with our partners and allies is essential."

A similar idea was conveyed by Stewart Cole, President of the Institut Pasteur, in his message on November 10, as he noted the importance of this visit in celebrating international cooperation, "which is more important now than it has ever been as we tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for the future." He also expressed how "happy and proud" he was at "the honor bestowed on us, which has given the Institut Pasteur wonderful international recognition."

Watch the press conference

 

 

Photos :
@Geoffroy van der Hasselt / AFP
@The White House - Office of the Vice President