Q: Because, as the title suggests, the next pandemic could be worse?
A: One of the things that saved us with MERS and SARS was they weren’t as infectious but, on the other hand, killed 25%-30% of the people who got it. COVID killed 1½%. Since I wrote this book, we have uncovered a new virus in China — from a bat in a cave, it wasn’t from a lab — that has the same high-efficiency transmission potential that COVID did. And it has the same genetic characteristics as a MERS or SARS that could kill 30% of the people infected. That’s floating out there right now. That, tomorrow, could be the next pandemic.
Q: So preparedness, particularly in the area of vaccines, will be more crucial, even as your book notes the current government is skeptical of, for instance, vaccines. What can we do?
A: This is the collective will of the people. What we need to have happen is a general understanding of why we need to be better prepared. Do you think there will be better preparedness for a flooding of the Guadalupe River in the future? I think so. We need to have the mindset that it’s going to cost us to do this but it’s an incredible insurance policy for society.
The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics
By: Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olshaker.
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