Coronavirus crisis: Vaccine expert issues stark warning about pandemics
THE CEO of Greffex Inc, an American company developing a vaccine candidate for coronavirus, has issued a stark global warning concerning pandemics.
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John R. Price leads the team of scientists who have been investigating COVID-19 since January. The innovative genetic engineering company have recently finished developing a potential vaccine and now plan to move to their next stage - testing. The company hopes to be able to distribute the vaccine to the governments who need it most.
However, whilst Mr Price has said he believes international governments are tackling the outbreak well, he asserts more should have been done to prepare for a pandemic.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Mr Price said: “I am completely apolitical, as is my company. But I have been arguing for the last 20 years that we are not prepared for the future.
“And what will happen again unless there are enough smart people, when this covid-19 dies down, everyone will ignore it.
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“And then we will have another cataclysmic event and everyone will realise we aren’t prepared again.”
Mr Price, whilst not identifying with any section of the political spectrum, believes governments should have heeded warnings prior to the outbreak.
He added: “Something important is that I don’t give governments a pass at all.
“They have had years. They have been preached at by companies like mine and others, and received billions of dollars to be prepared - and we’re not.
“We had SARS 17 years ago. Everybody knew what that virus was. And then we had MERS three years ago.
“How many times do you want to get punched in the nose before you learn to fight back? Governments should have known better.”
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Mr Price believes the world is responding well to the crisis, including smaller governments who may have fewer resources to battle the disease.
However, he has stressed the importance of awareness and preparedness going forward.
A pandemic is classified as an epidemic which has spread across large areas, including several continents.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) deemed COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the rapid increase of cases had led to the health body’s decision.
However, he also stated calling the outbreak a pandemic would not change the WHO response or advice.
Dr Tedros has continued to call upon Governments across the globe to take further action regarding the outbreak.
He has said urgent and aggressive action is needed if the world hopes to turn the tide on the virus.
The World Health Organisation has called for more testing to be taken place globally to effectively monitor the spread of the disease.
At the time, Dr Tedros added: “Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled.
“The challenge for many countries who are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same - it's whether they will."
Known global cases of coronavirus have now passed 900,000.