Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has warned that another pandemic is inevitable and that it would not be caused by the coronavirus. He also said that risks of severe disease from Covid-19 have dramatically reduced.

The billionaire stated in an interview that advances in medical technology should help the world do a better job of fighting any virus that may emerge in the future. “We’ll have another pandemic. It will be a different pathogen next time. The chance of severe disease, which is mainly associated with being elderly and having obesity or diabetes, those risks are now dramatically reduced because of that infection exposure.”

While 61.9 percent of the world population has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, Bill Gates said that it was already too late to reach the WHO’s goal to vaccinate 70 percent of the global population by mid-2022. “Next time we should try and make it, instead of two years, we should make it more like six months. The cost of being ready for the next pandemic is not that large. It’s not like climate change. If we’re rational, yes, the next time we’ll catch it early.”