[m0zg]

How can you target "new" infectious diseases if they are really "new" every year other than by guessing the right vaccine (as they do e.g. for the flu)? I mean, what worked for SARS won't necessarily work for COVID19, even though it's also a subvariant of SARS. If this is the case, by the time you come up with a drug and take it through all the (extremely costly) stages of testing approval, it'll be too late already, and herd immunity would have obviated the need for what you've just invested billions and countless person-years into.

[RandomWorker]

You can monitor existing viruses in wild animal populations and give them treatment before it mutates and goes to humans. This would be relatively cheap compared to solving the problem afterwards. We now know that bats are prime suspects for carriers of these diseases because they them selves don’t get sick much from them, live is close quarters, fly and are mammals.

[Broken_Hippo]

You'd be wasting money, though, and not necessarily saving money. Most animal diseases do not cross over to humans and IIRC, most of them that have crossed over come from farm animals. More people live in close contact with farm animals than they do things like bats.

This effort would honestly be better spent working on things humans already have.