Bill Gates says worry about another pandemic keeps him up at night

Bill Gates warns of potential crises like war and pandemics, emphasizing that nations must be better prepared than during Covid-19.

Bill Gates has time and again warned the general public about issues like climate disasters, devastating cyberattacks and more. For the billionaire, two potential crisis that evoke the most concern are war and pandemic.

Bill Gates expressed concern over future pandemics and wars, highlighting the need for better preparedness compared to the Covid-19 outbreak. (AFP)

He said that “a lot of unrest” in today’s world could spark “a major war” and even “if we avoid a big war ... then, yes, there will be another pandemic, most likely in the next 25 years.”

For Bill Gates, the most important question in case of a pandemic would be if nations are more prepared than they were for the outbreak of Covid-19. Talking about the United States, he said, “The country that the world expected to lead and be the model fell short of those expectations."

Bill Gates also wrote a book called “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic” in 2022 in which he called out various governments for not being prepared in 2020. In the book, he also laid out recommendations for countries worldwide, including stronger quarantining policies, disease monitoring and boosting vaccine research and development.

On Covid, he said, “Although some of the lessons from the coronavirus pandemic have been learned, it’s been way less than I would expect, sadly. Getting our thoughts together about what we did well, what we didn’t do well, is still not happening .... Perhaps, in the next five years, that’ll get better. But, so far, it’s quite surprising.”