Six years ago in 2016 Bill Gates spoke about the threat of a ‘super virus’. The world yawned, and chose to ignore him. Since then, his video has been watched 43 million times according to Sky News. He has written a book ‘How to Prevent the Next Pandemic’. Because he believes the risk of a more virulent virus is still ‘way over 5%’.
Our Lifestyle Affects the Risk of a More Virulent Virus
Modern life is not helping limit the possibility, Gates adds. “Everyone who works in infectious diseases just has this fear of human transmissible respiratory viruses. The more people travel and the stronger the interaction between wildlife and humans, the more risk of zoonotic cross-species diseases.”
Therefore, the pandemic is far from over, he believes. That’s because an even more transmissive and even more fatal variant is still statistically possible. Therefore, he reasons the world needs longer-lasting vaccines to block future infections. He makes a deal of sense because the risk of a more virulent virus just needs one rogue mutation.
Therefore We Need a Global Epidemic Response Team
Gates urges the world not to drop the ball on this one. He strongly recommends a global team ranging from epidemiologists to computer modelers to identify threats and improve international coordination. “It seems wild to me that we could fail to look at this tragedy and not, on behalf of the citizens of the world, make these investments,” he says.
“The amount of money involved is very small compared to the benefit and it will be a test,” he believes. “A test can global institutions take on new responsibilities in an excellent way.” We’re not saying for a moment Bill Gates is infallible. However, it we had listened six years ago we might have been in a better position when COVID arrived.
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