Bill Gates (Bill Gates) has become a central figure in COVID-19 's epidemic. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he set up has pledged more than $350 million in funding to fight the epidemic, including fundingAstraZeneca PLC、Johnson & JohnsonAnd Novavax to produce vaccines. However, Gates has been vilified by anti-vaccine activists and other conspiracy theorists who claim that Gates sowed the virus for his evil purposes.
Gates said he is optimistic that the world will have a chance to learn more about novel coronavirus and defeat the virus. He was interviewed by foreign media a few days ago. the following is an excerpt of the interview that has been collated and edited:
How confident are you that effective vaccines will be widely distributed by the end of 2020?
Gates: in terms of the effectiveness of treating diseases and preventing transmission, the original vaccine was certainly notIdealOf. The effectiveness of vaccines may not last long, and they will be used as a stopgap measure mainly in rich countries.
We are lucky to have achieved a lot before the end of the year. However, by 2021, it is likely that many other vaccines will be approved. The strongest reaction is most likely to come from protein subunits. With so many companies committed to vaccine development, we can afford some failures, but there are still problems of cost and duration.
For years, it has been said that if anti-vaccine people had experienced a pandemic, like their grandparents, they would have a different view.
On two trips to the White House since 2016, I was told I had to listen to anti-vaccine activists like Robert Kennedy Jr Jr. Yes, it's ironic for people to question vaccines, and we have to say, "Oh, my God, how else can you get out of a tragic pandemic?"
In view of people's doubts, should the use of COVID-19 vaccine be mandatory?
Gates: enforcing something is usually counterproductive. But you might say that if you work in a nursing home or come into contact with the elderly, you need to be vaccinated.
What do you think of the conspiracy theory that you study vaccines to use 5G radio waves to control people's minds?
Gates: it's strange. They thought I was involved in vaccine research and development, so they reversed the facts and thought that I was not donating money to save lives, but making money to harm people. It would be too bad if people refused to be vaccinated because of these conspiracy remarks, or stopped tracking the latest data on wearing masks.
What do you think of the problem of hydroxychloroquine? Although hydroxychloroquine has been repeatedly proved to be ineffective, and in fact it may cause heart disease in some patients, the White House still strongly promotes it.
Gates: this is an era of science, but sometimes people don't think so. Hydroxychloroquine looked good in the experiment. On the other hand, many good therapeutic drugs have emerged, which have been proved to be effective and have no serious side effects.
We have seen that the United States and other countries have to buy out the supply of vaccines before they are approved. Is this harmful?
Gates: we need cooperation within and between countries. So far, the United States has not provided procurement funds to poor countries. We spend more money on R & D than any other country, but we can only take care of ourselves in terms of factories and procurement. Every call I have with the head of the pharmaceutical company and the head of the country is aimed at "Hey, we need to protect everyone."
How do you think this will end?
Gates: therapeutic innovations will begin to reduce mortality, but the real end point will come from the spread of natural infections and the group immunity that vaccines give us. For rich countries, the end could be sometime next year, preferably in the first half of the year. We will be out of trouble by the end of 2021.
So we can do it?
Gates: of course, we are lucky that this is not a more deadly disease.