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Bill Gates has been deeply involved in the fight against the killer virus through the foundation he runs, Bill and Melinda Gates.
The millionaire said he was confident that a vaccine against the new coronavirus would appear “early next year” but feared that developing countries would not be able to benefit from it very quickly.
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He warned, however, that there could be collateral risks of the COVID-19 pandemic in the poorest countries, given a “free fall” in the rate of vaccination against other diseases, such as measles or diarrhea.
“It’s a tragedy, it’s really unfortunate that we couldn’t prepare for this pandemic,” said Bill Gates, adding that “everyone is in a rush to launch vaccines now, but we could have been better prepared.”
However, the Microsoft founder expects “treatments to appear very soon”, especially a vaccine “early next year.”
“In 2021 we can overcome the disease at least in rich countries,” he said.
“There are a number of vaccines in development and some of them will prove effective. Rarely are five pharmaceutical companies working on the same vaccine at the same time,” he said.
But Bill Gates wants “the vaccine to be for everyone, not just for rich countries.”
“Emmanuel Macron said that France would be generous in the face of the global crisis. This must happen on a global scale,” he said.
“For years, the infant mortality rate and malnutrition have been falling” in poor countries, he said.
But this year, “the disruption of the economy, health and education systems” in these countries has caused “much more serious damage than the epidemic itself,” he added, citing the African continent as an example.
“There are fewer people in Africa who are vaccinated against pneumonia, diarrhea or measles, and these diseases are gaining ground this year,” he said.
According to their data, the level of vaccination in Africa has dropped from 81 to 74% this year, and “all the advances of the last 25 years have been erased.”
Bill Gates also mentioned the record profits of tech giants during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that US fiscal policies are too weak and that Washington could “correct some of the growing inequalities.”
“Kids don’t want to go to school anymore and employees don’t want to go to work when others work remotely,” said Bill Gates.
