On Monday, one of the scientists behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine expressed concern that the next pandemic might be much deadlier than the present one.
Professor Sarah Gilbert of Oxford University, who received accolades for her part in generating a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine in less than a year, advised against complacency in the face of potential threats.
“This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods,” she said in a lecture at Oxford University due to be broadcast by the BBC on Monday night. “The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both.”
In comments shared with news media in advance, she argued that the global pandemic shows the importance of being prepared for the next health emergency: “The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost.”
The experts who worked to develop vaccines “must not now be asked to fade back into patient and under-funded obscurity,” Gilbert added.
More than 5 million individuals have died as a result of Covid-19 over the world, including almost 800,000 in the United States.
Despite promising trial findings, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was licensed in the United Kingdom in December 2020 and is now used in more than 50 nations, but it has yet to be approved in the United States.