One of the lead Almighty of the Oxford - AstraZeneca vaccine has delivered a down warning : it ’s improbable that COVID-19 will be the last virus to threaten our lifetime — and the next pandemic could evidence to be both more contagious and more lethal .
fork over the BBC ’s 44th prestigiousRichard Dimbleby Lecture , Dame Sarah Gilbert enounce the world needs to ascertain that we ’re ready for the next pandemic and not lose quite a little of the important scientific perceptiveness we ’ve get ahead while make do with COVID-19 .
" This will not be the last time a computer virus menace our lives and our livelihoods . The accuracy is , the next one could be worsened . It could be more transmittable , or more deadly , or both , ” Dame Sarah said , reports theBBC .
" We can not earmark a situation where we have croak through all we have lead through , and then find that the tremendous economic going we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness , " she stated .
" The advances we have made , and the knowledge we have clear , must not be lose . "
Professor Sarah Gilbert , Saïd Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford ’s Jenner Institute , was recognized with a damehood in the Queen ’s Birthday Honours earlier this year for her pivotal part in developing a COVID-19 vaccine . Her workspecializes in the maturation of vaccinum against influenza , malaria , and emerging viral pathogen , so when news of SARS - CoV-2 set out to emerge , it promptly exhaust her tending . On New Year ’s mean solar day 2020,she take aboutfour people in the Taiwanese city of Wuhan suffering from mysterious cases of pneumonia . Within two weeks , she and colleagues had design a vaccine against the never - before - escort computer virus . Just under two years later , more than2 billion dosesof the Oxford - AstraZeneca vaccinum have been released to more than 170 state worldwide , with the absolute majority of the dot being used in lower - income countries .
Dame Sarah is far from alone with her concerns regarding potential pandemic of the dear futurity . While COVID-19 hasbeen dubbeda " once - in - a - 100 pandemic " by some , many infectious disease epidemiologists think that COVID-19 isunlikely to be the lastsignificant disease eruption of our multiplication . Somealso arguethat not enough is being done to prevent and pull off future disease with pandemic electric potential to spring up and spread across the globe .
The full lecture will be broadcast in the UK onBBC Oneon Monday , December 6 at 10.35 pm GMT and will later on be uncommitted on the BBC ’s streaming service iPlayer .
