US infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci (L), Professor Sheila Tlou, Co-Chair of the Nursing Now Global Campaign (R), Chinese respiratory disease expert, Zhong Nanshan (bottom) (Screenshot from the webinar)

Leading Chinese respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan and top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci shared their fears and hopes on the future global public health systems amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic via video talk on Tuesday night Beijing time.

Dr. Zhong feared that political reasons may still be stuck in the way of decision-making when it comes to health problems in the future. He said all of the decisions should be made based on science, evidence, and clinical trials.

While what Dr. Fauci fears is that mankind would forget about the horrible experiences that they had gone through and not draw lessons from them.

In terms of hopes, Zhong would like to see that all countries can maintain the spirit of solidarity, enhance cooperation and collaboration, and work together to vaccinate people as much as possible, a vision Fauci completely agreed.

At an event hosted by the University of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Futures Institute, the two experts shared their views of the pandemic and explored how to change and reshape public health systems to transform outcomes.