"For example, when a new virus appears somewhere in, say, Asia, scientists use phylogenetic and population genetics models to predict how this virus might evolve, so they can try to create the most effective vaccine by the time the virus reaches Europe or the US."

But not to protect the billions of potential patients that exist in the entire continent of "Asia" who have yet to be infected or, indeed, to find a cure for those billions of Asians already infected? Just so long as an effective vaccine is found to stop any *Europeans* or those in the *US* even contracting the disease in the first place. That is what is the concern of scientists when a virus emerges in Asia?