The Covid-19 pandemic was preventable

The Covid-19 pandemic was preventable, an independent review panel has said. The panel, set up by the World Health Organization, said the combined response of the WHO and global governments was a "toxic cocktail". The WHO should have declared a global emergency earlier than it did, its report said, adding that without urgent change the world was vulnerable to another major disease outbreak.

BBC report here:- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-57085505

Full report (86 pages pdf file):-  https://theindependentpanel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/COVID-19-Make-it-the-Last-Pandemic_final.pdf

carbon20 wrote: I don't think it was ever preventable, I have been laughed at for more than 20years for saying we are due for a pandemic, People still don't believe this is real ,I have a cousin in the USA, who is saying the vaccine has killed more than the virus!!!!! ,mind she does live in la la land.....aka the Bible belt..... And people still look at me oddley when I say ,there's another pandemic, which could be much worse on the way ....... Not today or tomorrow...... But it is inevitable...... Take care all 😷😉

Thanks!  I agree, pandemics will always happen.  However, the focus upon "avian influenza" over the past few decades has distracted us from the fact that there are many other potential pandemic agents in the wild, just waiting to spill over into humans! 

I always thought a re-emergence of the SARS coronavirus (CV-1, 2003) was likely, if not inevitable:

1. The Chinese continue to eat stuff like bats, civet cats, pangolins, and other wild critters for their own bizarre reasons (usually superstitious or based in the belief that these critters confer virility) 
2. Chinese also persist in maintaining their traditional "wet" market retail system - 
3. Coronaviruses are being shown to circulate widely in nature, including camels (MERS), cows, and other species that we humans co-mingle with. 

One positive development from this horrible pandemic was the boost it gave to development of new vaccines based upon m-RNA tools!  This opens a whole new vista to respond to many other pathogens quickly, I hope we don't squander that opportunity. 

Be safe, everyone!  US CDC says that fully vaccinated folks don't need masks, but I'm still wearing mine at the Super Wal-Mart grocery etc.  Cheers, Chuck

CRS, DrPH wrote: Coronaviruses are being shown to circulate widely in nature, including camels (MERS), cows, and other species that we humans co-mingle with.

Cows? I had no idea. I have a very friendly cow called Rosie who will come up to the gate and rest her huge head on my shoulder so I can scratch under her chin and her neck - which she loves - and she'll be happily breathing and grunting all over me. And I frequently get covered in cow saliva when I go out to give them a treat. You almost have to put your hand in their mouths to give them a carrot or an apple. I must have consumed a lot of cow saliva over the years. lol.