Bill Gates Says Bioweapon Terror Attacks Are More Dangerous Than Pandemic

The world should prepare not only for new pandemics.

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said the world should prepare not only for new pandemics, but also for possible terrorist attacks involving biological weapons. He believes such attacks could be more dangerous than the spread of the coronavirus. 

What Gates said

In an interview with the British public organization Policy Exchange, Bill Gates said that to counter new threats, billions of dollars must be spent on research in biosecurity and on developing specific mechanisms to fight infectious diseases. 

He called on the WHO to create a special working group to monitor the epidemiological situation. Gates believes such a structure should also help prepare for possible attacks by bioterrorists and work out scenarios for eliminating the consequences of such attacks. 

Bill Gates
founder of Microsoft

The WHO working group on pandemics may need about $1 billion a year. It will monitor the situation and conduct “bacteriological exercises,” as I call them. <...> And if bioterrorists bring smallpox to 10 airports? Do we know how the world could respond to that? There are epidemics that arise naturally, and there are ones caused by bioterrorism. The latter could be worse than the one we are going through now. 

He hopes that in five years he will be able to write a book called “We Are Ready for the Next Pandemic.” However, for this, Gates said, billions of dollars must be invested in research and development. The US and UK will take part in this. 

Predictions

According to Gates, huge spending on fighting future pandemics could bring humanity other results too — for example, help get rid of the flu. 

Bill Gates
founder of Microsoft

The positive side is that the research and development needed to fight the next pandemic includes things like making vaccines cheaper, building large factories, eradicating the flu, eradicating common colds, and creating vaccines in the form of a small patch on the arm. All of this will be beneficial even when we don't have a pandemic. 

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation finances various medical projects, including the development of coronavirus vaccines. In recent years, the businessman has invested billions of dollars to make vaccines against various diseases more affordable for poor countries. 

The founder of Microsoft, who ranks fourth on the list of the world's richest people, predicted the emergence of important medical innovations. A few years before the coronavirus pandemic began, Gates warned of the threat of new deadly flu epidemics and said the world was not ready for them. 

In 2015, at a TED conference, he said: “If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it's most likely going to be a highly contagious virus rather than a war. Not missiles, but microbes. Part of the reason is that we've invested huge amounts in nuclear deterrence, but very little in a system to prevent epidemics. We are not ready for the next epidemic.” 

According to Johns Hopkins University, 250 million people worldwide have been infected with the coronavirus, and more than 5 million have died.