Next pandemic could be more lethal, vaccine researcher warns

The next pandemic could be deadlier and wreak more havoc than the COVID-19 crisis, a vaccine researcher has warned.

Sarah Gilbert, a professor at the University of Oxford whose team developed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, cautioned that while it’s clear that the current pandemic is “not done with us,” the next health threat could pose a greater danger, the BBC reported.

“This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods. The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both,” she told the outlet.

Gilbert said it’s critical that more funding and research be dedicated to preventing future pandemics.

“We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through, and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness,” she said.

“Just as we invest in armed forces and intelligence and diplomacy to defend against wars, we must invest in people, research, manufacturing and institutions to defend against pandemics.”

As for the current pandemic, Gilbert urged people to exercise caution until more is known about the new Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa.

She said the variant’s mutations “may mean antibodies induced by the vaccines, or by infection with other variants, may be less effective at preventing infection.”

“Until we know more, we should be cautious, and take steps to slow down the spread of this new variant,” she said.

The World Health Organization has warned that Omicron appears highly transmissible and could overtake Delta to become the most dominant strain.

However, experts said more research is needed to determine whether it causes more severe disease or is resistant to vaccines.