How to end the pandemic -- and prepare for the next | Maria Van Kerkhove

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2021

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

We will get out of this pandemic, says Maria Van Kerkhove, the COVID-19 Technical Lead of the World Health Organization (WHO). The question is how fast -- and if we’ll take what we’ve learned from the past two years and apply it to the next emerging pathogen. In conversation with TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers, Van Kerkhove provides insights on the Omicron variant, details a pandemic preparedness protocol under development at WHO and shares what we all can do to bring the pandemic to a speedy end. “Remain vigilant,” Van Kerkhove says. “Everything you do ... will either get us closer to ending this pandemic -- or it will prolong it.” (This conversation was recorded on December 3, 2021.)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TED Talks Daily.
0:05.9	I'm your host, Elise Hu.
0:07.6	Today, a timely talk on the ongoing and fast-changing coronavirus pandemic.
0:12.6	Infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kirkcov shares what she knows about the variant
0:17.6	Omnichron, the role we can all play to keep ourselves and our families safe,
0:22.4	and how to prevent the next pandemic.
0:25.5	She spoke with Ted Current Affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rogers at TED Women 2021
0:30.0	in a live virtual conversation on Friday, December 3rd.
0:35.7	The last two weeks have been intense on top of an incredibly intense couple of years,
0:43.3	on top of an incredibly intense couple of years before that.
0:47.3	So with the emergence of Omnchron, this new variant of concern, this was on top of a really
0:53.3	serious situation that we're in currently
0:56.4	in the pandemic. I know many people around the world think this pandemic is over, but unfortunately
1:01.9	it's far from over. And in fact, what I wanted to talk with you about the fact that never again
1:07.9	should we be in a situation where the world is overtaken and controlled by an
1:14.4	invisible virus. Never again should we be in a situation where virus takes so many lives.
1:21.0	And never again should we be in a situation where a virus steals so many features.
1:26.7	But unfortunately, we will.
1:28.6	And I wanted to talk with you a little bit about why that may be,
1:31.9	but also talk about how we can get out of this and how we need to be better prepared.
1:36.7	And I am incredibly hopeful that, number one, we'll get out of this pandemic because we will.
1:42.6	We will persevere.
	...

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