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Bill Gates says there should be a widespread vaccine by the end of 2021.
CBS Evening News
Everyone is envious of knowing when the coronavirus crisis will be over, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has an idea. But his estimate differs based on whether you live in the developing world or in rich countries like the United States.
“The innovation pipeline on scaling up diagnostics, on new therapies, on vaccines is actually quite impressive,” Gates told Wired magazine in an interview published Friday. “And that makes me feel like we need to end this thing for the rich world for the most part by the end of 2021, and for the world as a whole by the end of 2022.”
Gates, who funds medical research and vaccine programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is not Pollyanna. He is well aware that even as his prediction comes, the outbreak has pushed countries of all major years back to economic growth and progress in the fight against malaria, polio and HIV.
In the interview, Gates has harsh words for the American testing system, and expresses his frustrations about how President Donald Trump and his administration have handled the situation. This is not new – Gates has not been afraid to talk about the US response to the virus, tells CNN the high number of cases of coronavirus in the US is due to lack of testing and tracing of contacts, as well as wearing resistance to face masks. Gates himself has been the target of conspiracy theories and falsifications about the virus.
However, Gates believes that a vaccine will eventually be created, noting that due to scale and manufacturing issues, some of the vaccines under development are likely to help only in rich countries.
“It’s because of innovation that you do not have to think of an even sadder statement. This thing is that this will rage for five years until natural immunity is our only hope,” Gates said. “This disease, from both the animal data and the phase 1 data, seems to be highly vaccinated.”
As for the treatment for those who already have the disease, Gates spoke highly of the antiviral medication remdesivir and the corticosteroid dexamethasone.
“Other antivirals are two to three months away,” he said. “Antibodies are two to three months away. We’ve already had about a factor-of-two improvement in hospital outcomes, and that’s with just inhibitor and dexamethasone. These other things will be addictive for that.”
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