Philanthropist billionaire Bill Gates said that the risks of COVID-19 have decreased lately, but it is almost certain that the world will see another pandemic. Bill Gates’ new pandemic warning seems to piss off anti-pandemics.
Speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble, Bill Gates discussed Covid-19 and the new problems the world is waiting for. Stating that a large part of the global population has reached a certain level of protection against coronavirus, Gates added that the severity of infection has decreased with the Omicron variant.
What does Bill Gates’ new pandemic warning mean?
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Gates said a potential new pandemic will be caused by a different pathogen of the coronavirus family. Gates said in his statement, “We will face another epidemic. Next time it will be a different pathogen.” said.
Bill Gates, known as the founder of Microsoft, has invested millions of dollars in aid and investment in medical technology and WHO in recent years. Speaking with reference to these investments, the billionaire stated that the world would be in a better position to fight a possible future epidemic:
“The cost of being ready for the next pandemic will not be as great as the first. It’s not like climate change. If we act rationally, we can intervene and catch it early next time (he is talking about acting early against the new pathogen).”
The philanthropic billionaire said it’s too late to meet the target of vaccinating 70 percent of the world’s population by the middle of this year. According to the New York Times, approximately 63.7 percent of people worldwide have now received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Gates said that in the future, countries should move faster on vaccination. “Next time we should try like six months instead of two years and start vaccination right away,” he told CNBC.
Gates’ charitable organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, continues to be part of the global effort to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. The foundation and the UK-based charity Wellcome Trust have combined to provide $300 million to the Coalition for Outbreak Preparedness, part of the COVAX programme.
For those who don’t know, COVAX aims to accelerate the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines and ensure that all countries have fair and equal access to them.
You can share your views on Bill Gates’ new pandemic warning in the comments section and on the SDN Forum.
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