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(Bloomberg) – Bill Gates, whose foundation is focusing its efforts to fight the coronavirus, does not believe that life will return to normal until there is a viable vaccine that can stop its spread. The good news is that it may take less time than many have been predicting.
“Dr. Anthony Fauci has said he believes it will take around eighteen months to develop a coronavirus vaccine,” Gates wrote in a blog post published Thursday. “I agree with him, although it could be as little as 9 months or up to two years. “
Even if it takes 18 months, that would be the fastest scientists have created a new vaccine, Gates said, adding that he believes that eight to ten of the current 115 candidates for the COVID-19 vaccine look promising.
“I am particularly excited about two new approaches that some of the candidates are taking: RNA and DNA vaccines,” he wrote. “It may be a little difficult to see right now, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Key quotes:
- “For COVID-19, financial development is not a problem. Governments and other organizations (including our foundation and an incredible alliance called the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness) have made it clear that they will support whatever it takes to find a vaccine. “
- “Compressing the test timeline is not the only way to take a process that generally takes five years and do in 18 months. Another way to do it is to try many different approaches at the same time.”
- “Since we may not have time to conduct multi-year studies, we will have to carry out robust phase 1 safety trials and make sure we have good real-world evidence that the vaccine is completely safe to use.”
- “I suspect that a vaccine that is at least 70 percent effective will be enough to stop the outbreak. A 60 percent effective vaccine is usable, but we could still see some localized outbreaks. “
- “What we can do now is build different types of vaccine factories to prepare ourselves. Each type of vaccine requires a different type of factory. We need to be ready with facilities that can manufacture each type, so that we can start manufacturing the final vaccine (or vaccines) as soon as we can. “
- “We are doing the right thing to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.” In the meantime, I urge you to continue to follow the guidelines established by your local authorities. Our ability to overcome this outbreak will depend on everyone doing their part to stay safe. “
Read more: Gates Foundation to pay “full attention” to the virus
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This story has been published from a cable agency source without modification to the text. Only the owner has been changed.
