COVID-19 and beyond: World 'nowhere near' prepared, expert says

A respected epidemiologist who heads a U.N.-supported alliance that helps get vaccines to growing countries says the world is definitely “nowhere near” proper readiness for outbreaks just like the different coronavirus, insisting work is necessary now to prepare for another one.

Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI-The Vaccine Alliance, noted analyses alluding to the existence greater than 30,000 coronaviruses, and explained outbreaks just like the COVID-19 pandemic may become more likely.

“With increasing population, with increasing environmental destruction, we will probably see an accelerating charge of these types of outbreaks," he said from GAVI headquarters overlooking Geneva.

“We are nowhere around where we have to be to be globally prepared for these kind of outbreaks,” said Berkley, whose organization brings together industry, governments, United Nations agencies just like the World Health Company and UNICEF, and charities just like the Bill & Melinda Gates Base.

With the SARS and MERS coronavirus outbreaks earlier this century, initial interest in developing vaccines amid those crises ended up waning when the outbreaks faded - plus some worry about a repeat with the brand new coronavirus later on. Berkeley hopes this time will be different.

“Given the magnitude of this outbreak, I'd think it might be foolish for us not to complete vaccine development and make certain it was designed for potential future outbreaks," he said.

Berkley said the easiest method to prepare is always to create “platform technology" - a good buzzword for preparations to level and manufacture vaccines into a “program” into which new pathogens could be inserted to increase response.

From in early stages in the outbreak that first of all emerged in China, the World Health Organization has expressed concern that the brand new coronavirus might spread in growing countries with weaker health systems. Up to now, it has mostly hit richer countries like China, South Korea and Japan, and more and more Italy and other Europe. Developing countries haven't experienced big outbreaks.

“It would be a fool's errand if we assumed that actually, it will not go to these locations,” Berkley said, adding that epidemiology displays fast-moving outbreaks sometimes “settle” in places with weaker health devices.

He said 27 GAVI countries have recorded at least one case, plus some have clusters, raising problems about whether testing abilities, weather, age population - mostly younger in those countries - or various other factor could be slowing the emergence of COVID-19 found in those places.

“It could be that by enough time we see a larger outbreak in growing countries - if we carry out - we could have better and faster tools and test products, and perhaps a better knowledge of therapeutics, or even different ways to deal with this," he said. “That's my hope.”