That’s what Dr. Peter Daszak of the EcoHealth Alliance said 16 YEARS ago, according to a must-watch 60 Minutes report on the Alliance’s work. Here’s what you need to know.
To catch you up, the Trump administration recently cut funding for the EcoHealth Alliance, which has been studying how coronaviruses spread from bats to humans—a move scientists say does not bode well for our future pandemic readiness.
When digging into the origin of the coronavirus, CBS’s Scott Pelley came across an interview with the EcoHealth Alliance’s Dr. Peter Daszak from 16 years ago—with a strong warning about a future SARS-like pandemic.
“What worries me the most is that we’re going to miss the next emerging disease,” said Dr. Daszkak in 2004. “That we’re going to suddenly find a SARS virus that moves from one part of the planet to another, wiping out people as it moves along. And I think we need to get out there and look for these before they emerge.”
In fact, early on, remdesivir was tested on some of the viruses discovered by the Alliance. Dr. Daszak said the viruses would not have been discovered without federal government funding, which would have also set back research on the drug.
But now that funding’s been cancelled—which, of course, puts us at risk of another pandemic.
Read more about why this kind of research and One Health policies matter.
And listen to the recent episode of the I AM BIO Podcast featuring the EcoHealth Alliance’s Dr. William Karesh.
