Is There a Future Pandemic?

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Trolls are like their own bingo. They're waiting for certain words and then they kind of come out. But i think in the end, most people i meet, almost everyone, everyone i sat in my daily life, they understand the complexity of the issue. There was just multiple bad ways, and it was kind of trying to navigate your way through that. An hindsight is a wonderful thing in these situations. If you could go back, what would you tell your past self? I mean, many scientists will very reasonably want to stay out of the spotlight when the next pandemic hits. Ye, i think i probably will step back if there was a future one. It's

As the news came out of China that there was a new virus infecting humans, scientists around the world promptly got to work sequencing genomes, gathering data and communicating what they found with the public. One of the scientists catapulted into the public eye was Devi Sridhar, a professor in global public health. Soon, she was advising the Scottish government on their Covid strategy, regularly appearing on TV and had gained a big social media following. Ian Sample speaks to Sridhar about her experience of the pandemic so far, what it was like working alongside politicians, and what she’s learned from it all. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod