Fauci Makes Ebola Vaccines for Next Pandemic Before It Hits

Fauci to Make Ebola Vaccines for Next Pandemic Before It Hits

https://www.ebolaoutbreakmap.com/listings/drfauci/

what will happen if the next pandemic comes from a virus that causes Lassa fever, or from the Sudan strain of Ebola?

By Gina at the new york times

Published July 25, 2021 

In one sense, the world got lucky with the new coronavirus. By sheer chance, scientists just happened to have spent years studying coronaviruses, developing exactly the tools needed to make Covid vaccines as soon as the virus’s genetic sequence was published.

But what will happen if the next pandemic comes from a virus that causes Lassa fever, or from the Sudan strain of Ebola, or from a Nipah virus?

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is promoting an ambitious and expensive plan to prepare for such nightmare scenarios. It would cost “a few billion dollars” a year, take five years for the first crop of results and engage a huge cadre of scientists, he said.

The idea is to make “prototype” vaccines to protect against viruses from about 20 families that might spark a new pandemic. Using research tools that proved successful for Covid-19, researchers would uncover the molecular structure of each virus, learn where antibodies must strike it, and how to prod the body into making exactly those antibodies.

“If we get the funding, which I believe we will, it likely will start in 2022,” Dr. Fauci said, adding that he has been promoting the idea “in discussions with the White House and others.”

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, also thought it likely that the necessary funds would be allocated, calling the project “compelling.”

“As we begin to contemplate a successful end to the Covid-19 pandemic, we must not shift back into complacency,” Dr. Collins said.