Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates predicts “substantial death rate reduction” in coronavirus cases.
He said he believes the death rate would be significantly reduced by the end of this year but a Covid-19 vaccine will play a role in to returning to normalcy.
“You can see the therapeutic benefit faster than the protective benefit,” Gates said in an interview that aired Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “So I think there’s a good chance we’ll have substantial death rate reduction by the end of the year with the combination of those new tools.”
Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said remdesivir was one of the top treatments in the therapeutic research.
He mentioned two other antivirals that scientists are studying and can be taken orally instead of being injected with an IV like remdesivir.
Donations
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced its donation of $100 million to coronavirus vaccine research and treatment efforts in February as part of the World Health Organization’s request for $675 million in contributions to curb the spread of Covid-19. Moreover, the foundation announced an additional $1.6 billion to the Gavi vaccine alliance, a group that aims to immunize children amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Also I’d say monoclonal antibodies are probably the most promising class ...You have people like Regeneron, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca doing some pretty strong work,” Gates noted.
While these new therapeutics will largely help Covid-19 patients suffering from severe symptoms, Gates clarified it would not “drive us back to complete normalcy.”
“Until you really block transmission, have long periods of time without anybody going in the hospital, the concern is going to be there,” he said.
Gates also said that he is “enthused about all the vaccines that the U.S. has funded.”
“We live every day with our vaccine experts talking to these companies because how we put the world’s resources behind these isn’t just driven by a normal sort of market thing. This is cooperation to figure out within a country and across countries where this vaccine should go,” he added.
Public acceptance
Gates also stressed the importance of persuading the public to take the coronavirus vaccine if and when it becomes available. He noted that health officials must send clear messages that the FDA is “not cutting corners” and observing its professional safety process.
“Well, it’s critical that people don’t think we’re rushing,” he stressed. Gates added that he is “worried” but not surprised that people are worried about the efficacy and safety of the first Covid-19 vaccine.
“Hopefully they’ll look to the facts, understand the values of the people that they’re thinking about and understand that we’re in this together and we need to protect each other with masks and eventually probably with herd immunity with a vaccine,” he said.
Bidding
Gates previously said that the coronavirus vaccine should not go to “the highest bidder” and instead must be distributed to the people who need them.
“If we just let drugs and vaccines go to the highest bidder, instead of to the people and the places where they are most needed, we’ll have a longer, more unjust deadlier pandemic,” Gates told the audience of an online Covid-19 conference held by the International AIDS Society.
