In an interesting TED talk, Bill Gates proposes concrete ways we can build a pandemic-free future together. One of his forward-thinking ideas is to create a cross-disciplinary Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization (GERM) team that could contain outbreaks around the world with speed and efficiency – before they become pandemics.
Putting the right tools in place to prevent the next pandemic will require the development of e.g., improved medicines and tools for disease monitoring that will likely cost billions of dollars. Nonetheless, this is a bargain compared to the total cost of the COVID-19 pandemic (in the trillions), not to mention the countless valuable lives that were lost.
In 2015, Bill Gates gave a TED talk to warn us that a pandemic could happen and that the world was unprepared. Indeed, this is our chance to take heed, prevent the next pandemic, and make future generations proud.
Listen to Bill Gate’s talk “We can make COVID-19 the last pandemic” on TED Talks Daily via Podbean or Apple Podcasts.
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