Take action

Jason Matheny | CSET

"...We need to bolster our biodefenses, from disease monitoring to the development of flexible and broad-spectrum diagnostics, vaccines, and antivirals..."
Published:
April 20, 2020
Author:
Kirsten Gronlund

Contents

Jason Matheny | CSET

Founding Director

What do we need to do to be prepared for future pandemics?

As destructive as COVID-19 has been, we must prepare for future pandemics that could be much worse. Whether from natural outbreaks, lab accidents, or deliberate attacks, humanity remains vulnerable to pathogens that could kill hundreds of millions of people. We need to bolster our biodefenses, from disease monitoring to the development of flexible and broad-spectrum diagnostics, vaccines, and antivirals. COVID-19 has provided a painful lesson about our vulnerabilities — let’s learn as much as we can from this pandemic so that we’re better prepared for the next one.

This content was first published at futureoflife.blackfin.biz on April 20, 2020.

About the Future of Life Institute

The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is a global non-profit with a team of 20+ full-time staff operating across the US and Europe. FLI has been working to steer the development of transformative technologies towards benefitting life and away from extreme large-scale risks since its founding in 2014. Find out more about our mission or explore our work.

Our content

Related content

Other posts about 

If you enjoyed this content, you also might also be interested in:

Yi Zeng | Chinese Academy of Sciences/BAAI

"...we are tightly interconnected not only with each other, but also with the environment, and we are only a portion of the ecosystem. Continuous efforts should be made to make sure our connections to each other and the environment are in positive and sustainable ways..."
April 29, 2020

Anthony Aguirre | UC Santa Cruz

"...I suggest we try very, very hard to think of some way to provide a reward system for tragedies averted, and not just for bravely persevering through them (as important and noble as that is) when they occur..."
April 20, 2020

Emilia Javorsky | FLI

"...Prevention as the only path to a good outcome is at the core of each of the catastrophic risks, and it's my hope that a silver lining of COVID-19 will be renewed interest, efforts and resources in risk mitigation and safety engineering..."
April 20, 2020

Huw Price | University of Cambridge/CSER

"...There's something structural here that we need to fix, or find ways to work around..."
April 20, 2020

Sign up for the Future of Life Institute newsletter

Join 40,000+ others receiving periodic updates on our work and cause areas.
cloudmagnifiercrossarrow-up linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram