UK's Prince Charles says coronavirus reset is a new chance for sustainability

Prince said that rebuilding the world from the devastating impact of the "dreadful" coronavirus pandemic presented an opportunity for those environmental causes.

Reuters

June 03, 2020 / 09:45 PM IST

Britain's Prince Charles said the recovery from the coronavirus crisis represented a "reset moment" for the world and was an opportunity to prioritise sustainability issues, as he made the opening remarks at a virtual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting.

The 71-year-old prince, who himself has recovered after suffering mild symptoms of COVID-19, has championed environmental causes for decades, warning that global warming and climate change were the greatest threats to humanity.

He said that rebuilding the world from the devastating impact of the "dreadful" coronavirus pandemic presented an opportunity for those environmental causes.

"We have a unique but rapidly shrinking window of opportunity to learn lessons and reset ourselves on a more sustainable path," Charles told the WEF meeting on Wednesday.

He said that the pandemic, which due to lockdowns and restrictions has meant less industrial activity and travel, had showed people that dramatic change was possible.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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