Experiencing nightmares about 'next inevitable pandemic': Dr. Fauci

Dr Anthony Fauci often seen as the face of the public health response during the Covid19 pandemic in the US said he is experiencing nightmares about next inevitable pandemicWriting in an editorial in the journal Science Translational Medicine Fauci said he realised his worst nightmare in January 2020 when the type of virus he most feared triggered a worldwide pandemicCovid19 has exacted a toll that truly is nightmarish claiming the lives of more than 20 million people globallyldquoFor the past three and a half years we all have been living my worst nightmare a deadly pandemic caused by SARSCoV2 exactly the type of virus that I most fearedrdquo said Fauci who spent four decades as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of HealthldquoDespite the waning of the pandemic we must not become complacent that the pandemic is behind us because we have been surprised before by the emergence of new SARSCoV2 variants that have eluded the protection afforded by prior vaccination or infectionrdquo said Fauci who is now a Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine and the McCourt School of Public PolicyIn the editorial Fauci reviewed the key lessons learned from Covid19 to help prepare and respond to the next pandemic whenever that occursAlthough the world is in a much better place today than ldquo1 or 2 years agohellip we can reflect on lessons learned that could reduce the likelihood that we will be lsquokept awakersquo at night by another devastating emergent pathogenrdquoHe also described two buckets for these lessons the public health bucket and the scientific bucketIf there is a success story embedded in the Covid19 saga it is in the arena of basic translational and clinical science the scientific bucket Fauci wroteFauci outlined failures that fall in the public health bucket ranging from institutional weaknesses to the disconnect between health care delivery and the public health infrastructureSpecifically he noted poor coordination between state and governments supply chain issues and misinformation and disinformationHe also attributed the success to decades of investment in basic research noting the scientific achievements of Drew Weissman and Katalin Kariko awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for their discoveries that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid19This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever