At BioAsia 2022, Bill Gates was all praise for India’s impressive performance, both in developing COVID-19 vaccines with global partners, including the Gates Foundation, as well as the country’s vaccine coverage.

“It's [coverage] even better than most rich countries - that was quite phenomenal. So thank goodness that the design/manufacturing of the vaccines, the distribution, all of that was handled well. That ended up saving a massive number of lives.”

The “man who saw tomorrow” – as Gates was referred to by minister K T Rama Rao in the fireside chat at the meeting – also warned that while the previous gigantic pandemic was almost 100 years ago, it likely won't be that long until the next one strikes.

“It won't necessarily be a coronavirus, or even the flu, it is likely to be a respiratory virus with all the human travel we have now - that's the one that can spread in such a rapid way,” he predicted.

Gates has a book on the subject expected to come out in spring that delves into the topic in depth, and believes that if the world takes the lessons from this pandemic, and funds both academia and the private sector in the “right way”, it can be better prepared.

In 2015, Gates warned in a TED talk “The Next Outbreak? We’re Not Ready” that if anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, “it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war - not missiles but microbes.” The world had invested very little in a "system to stop an epidemic", he said at the time.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is a tragedy, Microsoft’s co-founder also recognized how Indian firms such as Serum, Bharat, Biological E and many other partners “stepped up and did a fantastic job” and now have new capacities that can be used for both “more equitable health.” This will also make sure that when the next pandemic comes along, they are able to come in very rapidly not just with vaccines but also diagnostics and therapeutics.

“So it's a glass half full but a lot of things were done well and we've learned how we can do better.”

Bill Gates Backs mRNA Capacity In India, Pitches Cutting Gene Therapy Cost

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