Bill Gates says Covid risks have ‘dramatically reduced’ but another pandemic is coming

Bill Gates said Friday that the risks of severe disease from Covid-19 have been dramatically reduced.

Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that a potential new pandemic would likely stem from a different pathogen than the coronaviruses family.

If investments are made now, medical technology will help the world fight it better.

We will have another Pandemic. Gates said that it will be a different pathogen next time.

The worst effects of the coronaviruses have faded as huge swathes of the global population have gained some level of immunity. The latest omicron variant has reduced its severity.

Gates said that in many places that was due to virus itself, which creates a level of immunity, and has done a better job of getting out to the world population than we have with vaccines.

The risk of severe disease, which is mainly associated with being elderly and having diabetes, is now dramatically reduced because of that exposure.

Gates said it was too late to reach the World Health Organization's goal to have 70% of the global population vaccined. More than half of the world's population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

He said that the world should move faster in the future to develop and distribute vaccines.

Gates said that standardized platforms would make it possible to make it in six months.

The cost of being prepared for the next Pandemic is small. It isn't like climate change. If we are rational, the next time we catch it early, we will.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations was formed by the Covax program to deliver vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.

The time it takes to develop a new vaccine is 100 days.