Bill Gates used to think of the US Food and Drug Administration as the world’s leading public health authority.
Both, in his opinion, are victims of a presidency that has downplayed or rejected science and medicine in the pursuit of political gain. A recent example came when FDA Commissioner Stephen Hain, speaking at one of President Donald Trump’s press conferences, increased blood plasma benefits as a treatment for COVID-19 and then returned the following day.
At stake is nothing short of public confidence that could end the coronovirus epidemic, and the FDA must approve. Surveys conducted in the past two months show that the majority of Americans are concerned that vaccine development is accelerating and that a third will not be vaccinated.
Like the rest of the country, Gates, 64, now finds himself in the unknown position of having to trust the companies that work on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, not the agency that regulates them.
Drugmaker Pledges
Nine of those companies pledged on September 8 to establish science and ethics, prioritizing safety over speed in the development of any vaccine that they submit for emergency approval. Since then, the FDA has stated that drug manufacturers must meet a higher-than-normal standard for such authorization.
While acknowledging that side effects are always possible, Gates said he hopes a safe vaccine will emerge from the development effort.
Since leaving the position of CEO of Microsoft Corp. This year’s Gatekeeper Report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation documents the impact of COVID-19 in areas such as education, nutrition, housing, and healthcare. It found that vaccination levels for all diseases globally have fallen to the lowest in 25 years due to pandemic lockdowns and economic destabilization.
Developing World
While Gates applauded the billions of dollars the Trump administration has invested in securing the supply of vaccines in the US under Operation Tanning Motion, he is frustrated by the lack of government funding for global manufacturing and procurement. Developing.
By spending an additional $ 8 billion to $ 10 billion on global vaccines, he said, the United States would save “trillions” in lost economic output, not to mention life and livelihoods. And this will help prevent the virus from coming back in wave after wave of infection.
To his own dismay, Gates has become a polarizing figure in the era of the pandemic, as Trump-aligned conspiracy theorists found common ground in America’s anti-vaccine movement.
In the interview, Gates rejected that notion as “crazy” and suggested that social media companies are to blame for allowing such “falsehoods” to spread uncontrollably.
