One of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has warned that future pandemics could be even more deadly than the current COVID crisis. Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, who delivered the 44th Richard Dimbleby Lecture, said more funding for pandemic preparedness was needed to prevent progress from being lost. 

Vaccines against the Omicron variant may be less effective, she added. People should exercise caution until more information is available, according to Dame Sarah. She said, “This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods. The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both.”

“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,” she added.

“The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost.”

She asserted that the Omicron variant’s spike protein contained mutations that increased the virus’s transmissibility.

“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.”

Reduced protection against infection and mild disease, according to Dame Sarah, does not necessarily imply reduced protection against severe illness and death. 

She stated that there was no reason why a universal flu vaccine could not be developed to eliminate the threat of influenza. 

In a bid to curb the spread of the Omicron, the government announced on Saturday that visitors to the UK will now be required to take a COVID test before leaving. 

Travelers aged 12 and up will be required to show proof of a negative PCR or lateral flow test taken no more than 48 hours before departure starting at 04:00 GMT on Tuesday.

Nigeria has also been added to the travel warning list as a result of an increasing number of Omicron cases being linked to the country. 

On Sunday, 86 new cases of the Omicron variant were reported in the United Kingdom, bringing the total number of cases to 246. A total of 43,992 cases and 54 deaths were reported within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. 

However, a government-adviser scientist described the new travel rule changes as “a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”.

Prof Mark Woolhouse told the BBC that the new rules were “too late” to make a “material difference” to a potential wave of the Omicron variant in the United Kingdom.

He claimed that Omicron was “spreading pretty rapidly” in the UK, and that if recent trends in the UK and South Africa continued in the coming weeks and months, it could eventually replace Delta as the dominant strain on the planet. 

When COVID first appeared in China in early 2020, Dame Sarah – who was awarded a damehood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier this year – began developing a coronavirus vaccine. 

With doses sent to more than 170 countries, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is now the most widely used in the world. 

The lecture, which is named after the late broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, will feature prominent speakers from academia, the arts, and business, as well as members of the Royal Family.