Bill Gates talks about conspiracy theories, hydroxychloroquine and the COVID-19 vaccine
The Microsoft co-founder has allocated $ 350 million to projects to combat the coronavirus and is confident that we will get out of this next year.
Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, has become, for better and for worse, a central character in the COVID-19 story. The good news is that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged more than $ 350 million to fight the disease, including funding for vaccine production from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax. The bad news is that Gates has been reviled by anti-vaccine groups and other conspiracy theorists who claim that he planted the virus for his own nefarious ends.
Gates is optimistic about the chances of the world defeating the coronavirus and not getting carried away by the wildest theories. His comments have been synthesized and edited for clarity.
How sure are you that we will have an effective vaccine and can be widely distributed by the end of this year or early next?
Well, the initial vaccine will not be ideal in terms of its effectiveness against disease and transmission. It may not last long and will be used mainly in rich countries as a stopgap measure.
If we are lucky we will have her before the end of the year. But then, in 2021, other vaccines are very likely to be approved. The strongest response will likely come from protein subunit-based vaccines. With so many companies working on it, we can afford a few failures and still get something low-cost and long-lasting.
For years, people have said that if anti-vaccines had been through a pandemic, as their grandparents did, they would think differently.
The two times I've been in the White House (since 2016), they told me I had to go listen to the anti-vaccines, like Robert Kennedy Jr. So, yeah, it's ironic that people are questioning vaccines and we have to say: "My God, how else can you get out of a tragic pandemic?"
Given the skepticism, should a COVID vaccine be mandatory?
Doing something mandatory can often backfire. But you could say that if you are going to work in a nursing home or are going to be exposed to elderly people, it would be necessary.
What do you think of the conspiracy theories that you promote vaccine research to control people's minds using 5G radio waves?
It's strange. They take the fact that I'm involved with vaccines and just reverse it, so instead of donating money to save lives, I'm making money to get rid of them. If that stops people from getting vaccinated or looking at the latest data on the use of masks, then it is a big problem, yes.
What about the discussion about hydroxychloroquine, which the White House has promoted even though it has repeatedly been shown to be ineffective and, in fact, cause heart problems in some patients?
This is an age of science, but sometimes it doesn't seem like that. In the test tube, the hydroxychloroquine looked good. On the other hand, many good therapeutic drugs are arriving that have been shown to work without causing serious side effects.
The United States and other countries are buying supplies of vaccines, even before they are approved. Is that harmful?
We need cooperation within countries and between countries. The United States has yet to help raise money for vaccines in poor nations. We have funded more research and development than any country, but in factories and purchasing, we have only taken care of ourselves. Every call that I participate in with pharmaceutical leaders and country leaders has as its ultimate goal "we need everyone to be protected."
How do you think this will all end?
The innovations in therapeutics will begin to reduce the mortality rate, but the true end will come from the transmission of natural infections and the vaccine that will give us immunity at the collective level. For countries that are rich, that will be sometime next year, ideally in the first half. We will get out of this in late 2021.
So will we be okay?
Of course. We are lucky that this is not a more deadly disease.
