World Must Take Militaristic Approach To Prepare For Potential Pandemics, Whether Naturally Occurring Or Intentional Biological Attacks

Business Insider: BILL GATES: A new kind of terrorism could wipe out 30 million people in less than a year — and we are not prepared
Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“…[W]e ignore the link between health security and international security at our peril. … The good news is that with advances in biotechnology, new vaccines and drugs can help prevent epidemics from spreading out of control. And, most of the things we need to do to protect against a naturally occurring pandemic are the same things we must prepare for an intentional biological attack. … First and most importantly, we have to build an arsenal of new weapons — vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics. … Because epidemics can quickly take root in the places least equipped to fight them, we also need to improve surveillance. … The third thing we need to do is prepare for epidemics the way the military prepares for war. … I’m optimistic that a decade from now, we can be much better prepared for a lethal epidemic — if we’re willing to put a fraction of what we spend on defense budgets and new weapons systems into epidemic readiness. When the next pandemic strikes, it could be another catastrophe in the annals of the human race. Or it could be something else altogether. An extraordinary triumph of human will. A moment when we prove yet again that, together, we are capable of taking on the world’s biggest challenges to create a safer, healthier, more stable world” (2/18).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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