The professor, who contributed to the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine in early 2020, believes countries should free up money to prepare for future pandemics. She therefore emphasizes that the knowledge and progress gained should not be lost after everything we have been through.
“This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our society,” she said during the lecture. “The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more deadly, or both.”
Omikron
Gilbert also warns that current jabs don’t work as well against the omicron variant. Until more information is available, she says people should therefore be careful and take steps to slow down further spread.
According to the professor, mutations have been found that make the variant more contagious than its predecessors. “But there are additional changes that could mean that antibodies created by vaccines or contamination with other variants are less effective at preventing omikron contamination.”
Read alsoOmikron variant poses major global risk according to WHO
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