Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has given a grim picture to the world seeking to return to normal after being hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
On a television show, the billionaire said that life will return to normal only when a second generation of the Covid-19 vaccine becomes available.
Gates told NBC that normalcy can return “when we have, not the first generation of vaccines, but one that is super effective.” He also said that the second-generation vaccine should also be widely available. “Only then can all the problems created by Covid-19 be solved,” he added.
Gates’ comments come as the world races to find a vaccine for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) that has affected millions of people around the world.
AstraZeneca’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine is one of the most advanced candidates in the race against the novel coronavirus.
The British pharmaceutical company has signed several supply and manufacturing agreements with companies and governments around the world as it approaches to report on the first results of an advanced stage clinical trial.
Developed by the University of Oxford and licensed by AstraZeneca in April, the vaccine is expected to be one of the first of the Big Pharma to gain regulatory approval, alongside the candidate from Pfizer and BioNTech.
Meanwhile, Pfizer has again modified the protocol for its late-stage study of its vaccine, this time to include more young participants.
The company said Monday that it received permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to include teens ages 12-15 in its global study of the Covid-19 vaccine.
New York-based Pfizer originally planned for 30,000 participants, but in September expanded it to 44,000 people. The Pfizer trial also includes a significant number of Hispanic, Black, Asian and Native American participants, plus many people between the ages of 56 and 85.
Last month, in an email interview with the Hindustan Times, Gates spoke about vaccine development and the protection it will provide. “It is too early to make predictions about how long the protection will last. At this point, we don’t have enough data on the duration of the antibody and T-cell response to the disease itself, much less to the various candidate vaccines. Many of the ongoing vaccine trials should begin reporting efficacy data in the coming months, which will begin to provide answers to these critical questions, ”Gates had said.
“The good news is that there is a large portfolio of vaccines under test, each with a different focus. This offers the greatest possible possibility of developing effective vaccines, ”he added.
Read the full interview here
On October 6, he had said that rich countries could return to close to normal by the end of 2021 if a Covid-19 vaccine works, is ready soon, and is properly distributed at scale.
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