Bill Gates Warns: Prepare For Next Pandemic

Founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates has warned governments all over the world to prepare for the next pandemic, which he believes could be deadlier than covid-19, by massive investments in healthcare.

He urged governments not to be complacent and be taken unawares like the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, saying they should budget billions (in currencies)to contain the next pandemic.

He said proactive steps needed to be taken or else the looming pandemic would kill millions of people.

Gates revealed this on Wednesday in his 2021 Annual Letter (The Year Global Health Went Local), seen by our correspondent.

“The unfortunate reality is that COVID-19 might not be the last pandemic. We don’t know when the next one will strike, or whether it will be a flu, a coronavirus, or some new disease we’ve never seen before. But what we do know is that we can’t afford to be caught flat-footed again. The threat of the next pandemic will always be hanging over our heads—unless the world takes steps to prevent it.

“To prevent the hardship of this last year from happening again, pandemic preparedness must be taken as seriously as we take the threat of war. The world needs to double down on investments in R&D and organizations like CEPI that have proven invaluable with COVID-19. We also need to build brand-new capabilities that don’t exist yet.

“Stopping the next pandemic will require spending tens of billions of dollars per year—a big investment, but remember that the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to cost the world $28 trillion. The world needs to spend billions to save trillions (and prevent millions of deaths). I think of this as the best and most cost-efficient insurance policy the world could buy,” his article captured.

Regarding the covid-19 pandemic, Gates had predicted that it would greatly ravage Africa.

He had cited poor economy and lack of strong health infrastructure as reasons for high covid-19 deaths in the continent.

Yet, while the continent is still recording daily cases and deaths, the cumulative data from Africa is 3,453,148 cases and 85,850 deaths; out of 100,880,623 cases ( according to latest Worldometer data).

However, health authorities like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Covid-19 Presidential Taskforce in Nigeria, had advised people to strictly comply with the health protocols as a measure geared towards curbing the pandemic.

THE WHISTLER reported that Gates had also said that the weather condition in Nigeria and India may be restricting the covid-19 spread in the countries.

“So far, developing countries like India and Nigeria account for a small portion of the reported global infections,” he had said.

Writing further on his prediction, Gates commended scientists who had developed covid-19 vaccines.

“The good news is that we can get ahead of infectious disease outbreaks. Although the world failed to prepare for COVID-19 in many ways, we’re still benefiting from actions taken in response to past outbreaks. For example, the Ebola epidemic made it clear that we needed to accelerate the development of new vaccines.

“So, our foundation partnered with governments and other funders to create the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. CEPI helped fund a number of COVID-19 candidates—including the Moderna and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines—and is deeply involved in the vaccine equity work that Melinda wrote about.”