We still use 1940s technology to develop influenza vaccines.

People basically and particularly [physically fit young males] are highly likely to become infected and develop complications, possibly even die, ... Why do I say that? In 1918, the people who more frequently died were in their teens to 40s. No one knows why.

Are we adequately prepared? ... No. We do not yet have a vaccine ready to go. If the pandemic happened next week, the public would be outraged that we waited and ignored the concerns and now people in every neighborhood were dying.

In our lifetime, we have not seen a disease sweep through a community and people die so fast that there's no one to take care of them at the hospital and there's no one to bury them. That's what will happen in a pandemic. It would be more deaths than all the world's wars in all of human history. All within the space of six to 18 months.

[Corpses would pile up.] The mortuary service would not be able to handle the numbers of dead, ... There would be no place to take them.

What we really don't want to see is an epidemic of panic.