more contagious, or more lethal, or both.” She went on to highlight the need to prepare for future global health crises, especially by using the knowledge and understanding gained over the past year and a half.
“We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through, and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness,” Dame Sarah noted. “The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost.”
Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has played a significant role in the United Kingdom’s Coronavirus vaccination programme, which began a year ago. It has also been used in more than 170 countries since then. During the lecture, Dame Sarah also spoke about the emerging Omicron variant which bringing back COVID restrictions in many countries across the globe.
“The spike protein of this variant contains mutations already known to increase transmissibility of the virus,” she said. “But there are additional changes that may mean antibodies induced by the vaccines, or by infection with other variants, may be less effective at preventing infection with Omicron. Until we know more, we should be cautious, and take steps to slow down the spread of this new variant.”
Prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, Dame Sarah worked on vaccines such as those using antigens from influenza and malaria for over a decade. Earlier this year, the 59-year-old was recognised with a damehood for services to science and public health.
