We hope that after it's over, governments will invest more heavily in medical technology, namely in preventive vaccinology such as VPRE, that would spare the shortcomings we are living now. This is the future we envision VPRE to flourish in: where preventive vaccines informed by extensive sequencing measures allow for protection against viruses that haven't even arisen yet.
As we upgrade our tool, we plan to generalize it to all viruses, allowing us to implement the same predictions on any virus that either uses humans and hosts or currently resides in animals but could potentially harm humans. Envision a world in which we diligently monitor virus populations in wildlife, livestock, and people. We could predict when, where, and which viruses will cause an outbreak, and have a vaccine ready before it happens.
What if this world was within our reach? As we grow aware of the myriad ways in which our actions impact Earth and everyone on this planet, it is time for humanity to unite with a collective goal: to use our innovation to influence the world positively with our actions. A new world is emerging.
We have worked with various organizations, experts, and locals in order to best formulate the scope of our project, as well as the risks and concerns.
Though we would like it to be so, we recognize that our vision could be compromised in people and countries of different socioeconomic status, specifically in producing and distributing vaccines, and monitoring markets and livestock diligently. Developing countries often don't have the allocated funds necessary to support facilities such as a vaccinology centre, nor the educational resources for accessing an online learning tool like VPRE.
However, we have considered possible shortcomings that would arise in these communities. The cost of genome sequencing has been at a steep downfall since its creation, making sequencing of infected livestock and people more accessible to poorer communities. Additionally, the geographical spread of places where genomes have been sequenced has been continuously growing with projects such as the 1000 Genomes Project, which collected human genomes from 26 countries to analyze genomic variability. These initiatives indicate that the trend will continue in upcoming years and hence would support our futuristic vision in the implementation of VPRE.