CLEVELAND — Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates wants plans in place to stop another pandemic. He is calling for a global alert system, testing, and tens of billions of dollars in yearly spending. In the meantime, a new center at the Cleveland Clinic will work to stop another pandemic before it starts.
“There are emerging virus activities all the time,” said Dr. Thomas Hamilton, Vice-Chair Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute.
Most never reach the COVID-19 pandemic level, but, “They all have the potential threat,” he explained. “Over the last five years, we’ve had Ebola, Zika, Dengue Fever. There is a whole range of these things."
Researchers at The Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health will work to identify emerging virus threats, discover ways to intervene, stop the spread, and develop rapid testing and vaccines.
The center is still in the planning stages. A date for when construction will begin has not yet been set.
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