Lessons Learned from COVID-19 and Their Implementations for Future Pandemics

Abstract

While recent SARS, MERS, and Ebola outbreaks received some attention, the current COVID-19 pandemic has instigated a rapid and unprecedented development of several efficient vaccines, fast real-time diagnostics, app-based monitoring, real-time epidemiology, and high-throughput genome sequencing. The pandemic has caused more than 170 million infections, claimed 3.5 million lives, and the global economy has been severely damaged, affecting us all. Though we cannot yet declare victory, we must think forward and be prepared for what the future holds, learning from the current pandemic, and implement our know-how for potential future pandemics. COVID-19 can be considered as the gold standard for translational virology, the transfer from bench to bedside. The technology development in the areas of bioinformatics, next-generation sequencing, genomics, and drug and vaccine development has contributed to unprecedented preparedness to face the future. Additional tools such as satellite connectivity and artificial intelligence will further strengthen our position. Moreover, the productive interaction between academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and governmental organizations is another asset that bodes well to tackle new challenges. However, we are confronted by SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutations providing potentially higher transmission rates and reduced efficacy of existing vaccines. This issue has to be addressed as well as the prediction of other emerging viruses that might trigger new pandemics. The responsibility lies with the scientific community to use acquired expertise and experience, including the rapid development of vaccines to stay alert, communicate and work together to deal with any emerging outbreak and allow the global health and economy to return to pre-COVID levels.