There are so many awful things that the ongoing pandemic has caused. Apart from the huge numbers of deaths worldwide (over 5.8 million), the economy had a lot to suffer from the restrictions and lockdowns. Many people lost their jobs; owners couldn’t continue their businesses, and so on.
Bill Gates has easily been one of the most iconic public figures tied to the coronavirus pandemic that we’re still going through. He was also tied to various conspiracy theories, and now he’s once again under the spotlight.
A new pandemic coming from a different coronavirus pathogen?
According to CNBC.com, Bill Gates spoke during the Munich Security Conference about the possibility for a new pandemic to emerge. The billionaire believes that it’s likely to appear from a different coronavirus pathogen.
Bill Gates also confirmed what scientists have already known for quite a while: the risk of developing severe illness due to COVID infection has been reduced dramatically. Last but not least, the billionaire also adds faith in vaccines and says that the time needed for their production could be cut to just six months due to advances in the medical field.
Here’s one of the statements of Bill Gates, as quoted by CNBC.com:
The chance of severe disease, which is mainly associated with being elderly and having obesity or diabetes, those risks are now dramatically reduced because of that infection exposure.
Gates also said, as quoted by the same source:
Next time we should try and make it, instead of two years, we should make it more like six months,
The cost of being ready for the next pandemic is not that large. It’s not like climate change. If we’re rational, yes, the next time we’ll catch it early.
Let’s just hope that the COVID pandemic will be over soon enough!