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(CNN) – Microsoft billionaire co-founder Bill Gates believes that “almost all” Covid-19 vaccines will work and work well, he said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have already proven effective in the company’s early data, and Gates said he expects the AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax vaccines to have similar success soon.
“I’m optimistic that by February they are all very likely to be very effective and safe,” he said.
Microsoft’s billionaire founder spoke to CNN on Friday, a day before more than 177,000 people tested positive for the virus and about 1,400 died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The United States has seen a large increase in cases in recent weeks, and Gates said he expects the number of daily infections to continue to rise. He said that more than 2,000 people could die every day for much of the winter.
“We’re still going up (in some cases) and that rise is expected to literally continue into February. And that’s where more than 2,000 deaths per day are likely to occur during this winter period,” he said.
He recommended that Americans wear masks and be smart about public health practices.
“Ideally, people would say, ‘Okay, because medical tools are coming, we can duplicate good behavior,'” he said. “You know, try to make sure your family is not the last death in this pandemic because you are willing to survive until spring, which is when the vaccine will really start to reduce the numbers. And, of course, the climate change will also help us. “.
Giving people a vaccine that works and getting the majority of people vaccinated will also be their own challenges. The logistics piece is “a little confusing” in the United States, he said, but he was “hopeful” that these problems will be solved.
“You want to make sure you don’t waste any of this vaccine, but in a slightly imperfect way, I think the logistics will work out,” he said. “I think there will be enough people to step in early on, that people will see even more evidence of safety, and that eventually we will get to that level of more than 70% that we need to stop the spread of the disease.”
Personally, Gates’ own Thanksgiving break will have fewer family members than in a normal year.
“This is not a time when people can enjoy Thanksgiving the way they would like,” he said. “I will have a video connection with many family members on Thanksgiving, but I will not be with them to eat turkey together.”
This story was first published on CNN.com, “Bill Gates is confident that almost all Covid-19 vaccines will work well.”
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