At the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday, ET, Bill Gates said the risk of severe illness from Covid-19 had been “substantially reduced,” but another outbreak was almost certain to come, one that could come from one. A pathogen different from the new coronavirus family.
“We’re going to have another outbreak. Next time it’s going to be a different pathogen,” Gates said.
But he added that the world should be better prepared to deal with a new outbreak as medical technology improves if it invests in the medical industry now.
Gates said the coronavirus pandemic has been going on for two years, and the worst effects of the pandemic have subsided as large parts of the world‘s population gain some level of immunity. And the severe rate of the new crown epidemic has also weakened with the latest Omicron variant. In many places, however, people’s Covid-19 antibodies are acquired as a result of contracting the virus, not vaccination.
The World Health Organization previously set a goal of vaccinating 70% of the world‘s population by mid-2022. But Gates said it was “too late” to get there. Currently, 61.9% of the world‘s population has received at least one dose of the new crown vaccine.
He also said the world should develop and distribute vaccines faster in the future, and called on governments to invest now.
“Next time we should try to make it happen, we should move the timeframe for developing and distributing a vaccine closer to six months instead of two years,” Gates said, adding that standardized platforms, including mRNA technology, would enable this become possible.
“The cost of being prepared for the next pandemic is not that big,” Gates said. “It’s not the same as climate change. If we’re rational, yes, we’ll catch it earlier next time.”