GERMANY: Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and a renowned philanthropist, recently said that the risks of severe disease from COVID-19 have "dramatically reduced", but there would certainly be another pandemic.
Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told the media at Germany's annual Munich Security Conference that a potential new pandemic would likely be caused by a pathogen other than the coronavirus family.
However, he noted that if investments were made now, breakthroughs in medical technology should enable the world to combat it.
By mid-2022, Gates believed it would be "too late" to accomplish the World Health Organization's objective of inoculating 70 per cent of the world's population against COVID-19. At least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to 61.9 per cent of the world's population until now.
He went on to say that the world should move faster in developing and distributing vaccinations in the future and that countries should spend today.
He maintained that the cost of being ready for the next pandemic was not that high. He said it was not like climate change, and if we're rational, we will catch it early.