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Gates’ opinion was expressed in an opinion statement published Wednesday.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be caught off guard again. The threat of the next pandemic will always hang over our heads, unless the world takes steps to prevent it,” the billionaire writes in an “annual letter” signed with his wife, Melinda.
To avoid problems similar to those of the new coronavirus, “preparing for the next pandemic must be taken as seriously as the threat of war.”
The co-founder and former director of Microsoft stressed that “stopping the next pandemic will require tens of billions of dollars a year to be invested, but let’s remember that the cost of the covid-19 pandemic worldwide is estimated at 28 billion dollars” (23 billion euros).
“The world must spend billions to save billions (and prevent millions of deaths). I think it is the best and most profitable insurance policy the world can afford,” he wrote.
For Gates, who is one of the three richest men in the world, according to Forbes magazine, “most of the investment must come from the rich countries” because they are the ones who have the most to gain.
In addition to the scientific investments that should make it possible to overcome the new coronavirus pandemic and other future ones (such as diagnoses, vaccines or treatments), Bill Gates also called for the installation of a “global alert system, which does not exist on a large scale”, to be able to bring out epidemics as soon as possible.
The billionaire, who had already raised the alarm about the dangers of pandemics, in particular during a held TED conference in 2015, advocates, on the other hand, for the creation of a rapid reaction force for infectious diseases, “pandemic firefighters” they would be on constant alert to respond to a potential health crisis.
In his opinion, about three thousand of these professionals would be needed worldwide.
Bill Gates is heavily involved in promoting and financing vaccination, particularly in developing countries, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which, according to his accounts, has already invested $ 1.75 billion in fighting the pandemic. current.
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