Jeremy Farrar, one of the first people to sound the alarm about the pandemic, warns the global community: Do not let your guard down — for this pandemic, or the next one.

The director of Wellcome Trust talks to Devex Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar about the uncertainties of long Covid, the successes and failures of the global coronavirus response, the geopolitics of global health, and our collective “blindspots” to the next virus.

Jeremy Farrar is a member of the UK Vaccine Taskforce and the Principles Group of the ACT-Accelerator hosted by the World Health Organization, where he chairs the R&D Blueprint Advisory Group. He advocates for rapid investment in research on Covid-19 testing, treatments and vaccines, and argues that everyone – not only people who live in rich countries – should benefit equally from the discoveries that result.

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