Keypoints:
- Gates said that the country could have over 200,000 additional deaths in 2021 in ‘worst phase’ of pandemic.
- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned that the subsequent 4 to 6 months could possibly be the worst phase of a pandemic.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, whose foundation has been part of the effort to develop and deliver COVID-19 vaccines, warned on Sunday that the next four to six months could be the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Sadly, the next four to six months could be the worst of the pandemic. The IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) forecast shows over 200,000 additional deaths. If we would follow the rules, in terms of wearing masks and not mixing, we could avoid a large percentage of those deaths,” Gates, the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, told CNN.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Gates spoke about the response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that the US could have over 200,000 additional deaths if protocols such as the wearing of masks and hand hygiene weren’t adhered to. The business tycoon stressed that a large percentage of those projected deaths could, however, be avoided if Americans followed the rules. “It’s bad news,” said Bill gates, sounding the alarm about the pandemic situation in the year 2021.
In recent weeks, the US is experiencing record high cases, deaths and hospitalisations. “I thought the US would do a better job handling it,” said Gates, who in 2015 had warned the world of such a pandemic.
Gates said that access to the vaccine should be based on medical need, not wealth at all.
“Overall, when I did the forecasts in 2015, I talked about the deaths potentially being higher. So, this virus could be more fatal than it is. We didn’t get the worst-case. But the thing that has surprised me is that the economic impact in the US and around the world has been much greater than the forecasts that I made five years ago,” he said.
“So, in diagnostics, therapy and vaccines, we know where the science is, we know how the pieces need to come together in an urgent way. And so our expertise in infectious disease, which normally only relates to developing countries, applied to the entire world for this crisis,” he added.
Despite the availability of the vaccine, Gates said that the next four to six months really call on Americans to do their best. “Because we can see that this will end, and you don’t want somebody you love to be the last to die of coronavirus,” he said.
