Can the World Stop the Next Pandemic?
On 11 February 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) gave a name to an illness that had emerged only two or three months earlier: Coronavirus disease 2019, more commonly referred to as COVID-19.
That day, few would have believed that, a year later, the odd-sounding disease would still be the defining issue for men’s – and everyone’s – health. But it hasn’t just been a period of mounting death tolls, baffling symptoms and economic mayhem. The last year has also seen an unprecedented outpouring of science, the invention of effective vaccines and a deeper understanding of how pandemics happen.
So, it’s time to ask ourselves a few things. Could we have stopped the pandemic? Can outbreaks such as this happen again? If so, has COVID-19 taught us how to prevent the next one?
Spoiler alert: during the first lockdown last autumn, I wrote a book called COVID-19: The Pandemic That Never Should Have Happened and How to Stop the Next One. Just based on what we knew then, the answer was yes, we could certainly have prevented it, or if not, controlled it better. And, yes, there will be another outbreak like this, of an animal virus that spreads lethally in people. Since last autumn, this has become even clearer: if we learn what we did wrong this time and act on it, there is every chance that we can stop the next one. What we don’t have is any assurance that governments facing the economic fallout of this pandemic will do what is needed.
It isn’t
