Multiple pandemic preparedness and response exercises have been conducted or are planned for 2025 by various organizations and countries, reflecting a global effort to strengthen capabilities following recent experiences. These exercises are designed to test systems, enhance coordination, and improve response mechanisms for a variety of health threats, including pandemics.
Examples of pandemic exercises in 2025
- WHO Exercise Polaris: In April 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened more than 15 countries and over 20 regional health agencies and partners for Exercise Polaris, a simulation to test a new global coordination mechanism for health emergencies, the Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC).
- WHO SEARO Mini-Simulation Exercise in DPR Korea: In May 2025, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Ministry of Public Health participated in a mini-simulation exercise organized by WHO SEARO. The exercise focused on a fictional influenza outbreak to test national systems and resulted in a trained cadre of national facilitators and a roadmap for revising the National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan.
- Netherlands Simulation Exercises 2025: Disease X: The Netherlands conducted simulation exercises in 2025 focusing on a fictional “Disease X,” requiring different control measures than those used for COVID-19 and Avian Influenza. These exercises addressed virus transmission, hospital capacity, vaccination, risk communication, and the interplay of biomedical, social, and economic considerations.
- ECDC Workshop on Simulation Exercises: The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control hosted a workshop in June 2025 with representatives from Eastern Partnership countries to strengthen their capabilities in public health emergency preparedness through simulation exercises and after-action reviews.
- Johns Hopkins SPARS Pandemic Scenario: The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security published a futuristic scenario called “The SPARS Pandemic 2025-2028,” which serves as a training exercise to help risk communicators and emergency health planners prepare for communication challenges during an influenza pandemic.
- Johns Hopkins Catastrophic Contagion Simulation: A simulation exercise called “Catastrophic Contagion” involved a fictional pandemic breaking out in South America in 2025, primarily affecting children and young adults.
EVENT 201 IN 2019:
Event 201 was a pandemic tabletop exercise held on October 18, 2019, in New York City. The first cluster of COVID-19 cases was detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, roughly two months later.
While the timing of Event 201 and the emergence of COVID-19 raised questions, health security experts at Johns Hopkins noted that the exercise was not a prediction of the actual pandemic. Rather, it simulated a fictional, severe coronavirus pandemic to highlight areas needing improved preparedness and public-private partnerships in response to such a crisis. The specific virus used in the simulation was a fictional coronavirus strain with differences compared to the one causing COVID-19. The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security published recommendations stemming from Event 201 on January 17, 2020, by which time COVID-19 was already spreading globally.