Astrazeneca creator says next pandemic can be more lethal
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
June 30, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022
Astrazeneca creator says next pandemic can be more lethal

Coronavirus chronicle

TBS Report
06 December, 2021, 02:35 pm
Last modified: 06 December, 2021, 06:09 pm

Related News

  • Citizen's initiative declares monkeypox outbreak a 'pandemic', urges WHO action
  • How pandemic causes thousands of school dropouts
  • Adolescent boys faced more violence than girls during pandemic: Study
  • Unlikely monkeypox outbreak will lead to pandemic, WHO says
  • PM for concluding global treaty to face future pandemics

Astrazeneca creator says next pandemic can be more lethal

She also warned vaccines could be less effective against the Omicron variant

TBS Report
06 December, 2021, 02:35 pm
Last modified: 06 December, 2021, 06:09 pm
Photo: Getty Images via BBC
Photo: Getty Images via BBC

One of the creators of the Oxford Astrazeneca, Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, has said that future pandemics can be more lethal than current Covid crisis.

She added while delivering the 44th Richard Dimbleby Lecture that there needed to be more funding for pandemic preparedness to prevent the advances made from being lost, reports BBC.

She also warned vaccines could be less effective against the Omicron variant.

Dame Sarah added that people should be cautious until more was known about it.

She said: "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.

"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 added.
"The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost."
Speaking about the Omicron variant, she said its spike protein contained mutations known to increase the transmissibility of the virus.

"But there are additional changes that may mean antibodies induced by the vaccines, or by infection with other variants, may be less effective at preventing infection with Omicron.

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

However, Dame Sarah said reduced protection against infection and mild disease would not necessarily mean reduced protection against severe illness and death.

She also called for the rapid progress seen in delivering vaccines and medicines during the pandemic to become the norm.

There was no reason why a universal flu jab could not be developed in order to wipe out the threat from influenza, she said.
On Saturday, the government announced that travellers heading to the UK will now have to take a Covid test before their departure in an effort to limit spread of the Omicron.

From 04:00 GMT on Tuesday travellers aged 12 and over will be required to show proof of a negative PCR or lateral flow test taken no earlier than 48 hours before departure.

And Nigeria has now been added to the travel red list after a growing number of Omicron cases were linked to the country.

But a scientist advising the government said the travel rule changes were "a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted".

Prof Mark Woolhouse said the new rules had come too late to make a "material difference" to a potential wave of the Omicron variant in the UK.

Prof Woolhouse, a member of the government's Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M), told the BBC's Andrew Marr show that Omicron was "spreading pretty rapidly" in the UK, and if current trends here and in South Africa continued in the coming weeks and months, it could replace Delta as the world's dominant strain.

The UK recorded 86 new cases of the Omicron variant on Sunday, taking the total so far to 246. In total, 43,992 cases and 54 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test were recorded on Sunday.

Dame Sarah - who was recognised with a damehood in the Queen's Birthday Honours earlier this year - began designing a coronavirus vaccine in early 2020 when Covid first emerged in China.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca jab is now the most widely used around the world, with doses sent to more than 170 countries.

The lecture, named after the late broadcaster, Richard Dimbleby, features influential speakers from academia, arts and business and the Royal Family.

Top News / World+Biz

AstraZeneca / lethal / pandemic

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Representational image
    Curbs on amnesty, ease for corporate tax
  • Infographic: TBS
    Walton’s founder MD making large investments in cosmetics
  • Luxury Houseboat owners  distributed food, provided medical assistance, and shelter to the flood victims, till the flood waters receded Photo: Masum Billah
    The first responders: How luxury houseboats became rescue centres for flood victims

MOST VIEWED

  • Test tubes are seen in front of displayed Pfizer and Biontech logos in this illustration taken, May 21, 2021. Reuters: llustration
    BioNTech, Pfizer to start testing universal vaccine for coronaviruses
  • A woman holds a small bottle labelled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
    S Korea approves first domestically developed Covid vaccine
  • Photo: Collected
    US medical experts call for Omicron-specific Covid boosters
  • David E Adler. Sketch: TBS
    Who managed Covid-19 best, and why?
  • People line up at a nucleic acid testing station, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China, June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
    China slashes Covid quarantine time for international travellers
  • Covid-19 deaths were reported from Gorakhpur, Jalaun, Bulandshahr, Kannauj, Sonbhadra, Gonda, Bhadohi, Basti, Kushinagar and Mau (HT Photo)
    India sees 45% jump in a day with 17,073 new Covid cases

Related News

  • Citizen's initiative declares monkeypox outbreak a 'pandemic', urges WHO action
  • How pandemic causes thousands of school dropouts
  • Adolescent boys faced more violence than girls during pandemic: Study
  • Unlikely monkeypox outbreak will lead to pandemic, WHO says
  • PM for concluding global treaty to face future pandemics

Features

Dr M Mushtuq Husain. Sketch: TBS

'We did not face an extreme crisis with Omicron. But this wave is spreading faster'

35m | Interviews
Luxury Houseboat owners  distributed food, provided medical assistance, and shelter to the flood victims, till the flood waters receded Photo: Masum Billah

The first responders: How luxury houseboats became rescue centres for flood victims

2h | Panorama
Mahathir accused financial titans of seeking to reverse decades of economic development that propelled tens of millions into the middle class. Photo: Bloomberg

George Soros, Mahathir and the legacy of 1997

20h | Panorama
 If Bangladesh produces and exports high-value-added MMF products right now, we can increase our total export by around 25% in value. Photo: Mumit M

Time ripe for Bangladesh RMG sector to focus more on man-made fibres

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Khaled Masud  Pilot starts his second innings in restaurant business

Khaled Masud Pilot starts his second innings in restaurant business

1h | Videos
Severodonetsk now under Russian control

Severodonetsk now under Russian control

13h | Videos
South African boy drove ambition, says Elon's father

South African boy drove ambition, says Elon's father

13h | Videos
Why Dollar crisis will last long?

Why Dollar crisis will last long?

13h | Videos

Most Read

1
Padma Bridge from satellite. Photo: Screengrab
Bangladesh

Padma Bridge from satellite 

2
Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'
Splash

Meet the man behind 'Azke amar mon balo nei'

3
Photo: TBS
Bangladesh

Motorcycles banned on Padma Bridge 

4
Photo: Courtesy
Corporates

Gree AC being used in all parts of Padma Bridge project

5
Photo: Collected
Economy

Tech startup ShopUp bags $65m in Series B4 funding

6
World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years
Economy

World Bank to give Bangladesh $18b IDA loans in next five years

EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab
BENEATH THE SURFACE
Workers unload sacks of paddy at the BOC Ghat paddy market on the bank of the Meghna River in Brahmanbaria’s Ashuganj, the largest paddy market in the eastern part of the country. This century-old market sells paddies worth Tk5-6 crore a day during the peak season. PHOTO: RAJIB DHAR

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net