With coronavirus vaccinations launched in the US on Monday, Bill Gates has warned that the next four to six months could be the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Microsoft co-founder, who funds medical research and vaccine programs via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, offered his predictions during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday as the US keeps setting new records for new coronavirus cases,and deaths.
"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,” he said.
"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.
He also urged the US to help all of humanity when asked of the executive order signed by President Donald Trump which gives priority to distribution of the vaccine to Americans before it goes to people in other countries.
"We want the world economy be going. We want to minimize the deaths. And, you know, the basic technology is a German company. And so blocking international sharing and cooperation has been disruptive and a mistake during this entire pandemic," he said.
"So, we need to ramp up the capacity of all the vaccines. There will be some additional ones approved in the months ahead that are easier to scale up the manufacturing. But the US has benefited from other countries' work care, and we shouldn't be entirely selfish in how we go forward," he added.
Asked whether he would take the vaccine publicly as announced by former presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama to increase the confidence of the people in the vaccine, he nodded yes.
"I will do the same. When it's my turn -- I'm not going to budge, but when my turn comes up, I will visibly take the vaccine, because I think that it's a benefit to all people to not be transmitting," he said.
He said access to the vaccine should be based on medical need, not wealth.
"After all, this epidemic has been awful in the way that it's exacerbated inequities. It's been worse for Hispanics, worse for blacks, worse for low-income service workers, multigenerational households, a number of things that mean that, in terms of picking who gets the vaccine, we better be using equity to drive all those decisions," he said.
