Bill Gates also warned against trying to rush a reopening which will generate “exponential” growth in COVID-19 cases all around the world.
New York| As he refocuses his philanthropic work, Billionaire Bill Gates is funding production of the seven most promising ideas of a vaccine for the highly contagious coronavirus.
Gates said on CNN, “If everything went perfectly, we’d be in scale manufacturing within a year.”
Bill Gates added that It could also take as long as 2 years.
World’s second-richest man said vaccine generation will probably not start in September, as some have said.
“Dr. Fauci and I have been fairly consistent to say 18 months to create expectations that are not too high,” Gates said.
He was referring to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, Anthony Fauci.
In the United States, the availability of testing for the COVID-19 has been a sore spot since months. US President tweeted on Saturday that the United States just crossed 5 million Tests, way more than any other nation.
The best-case scenario for a phased resuming of the economy is to “pick the high-value activities like school, manufacturing and construction, and figure out a way to do those with masks and distancing,” the billionaire said.
Bill Gates, earlier said in an interview with the Financial Times, that his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with a donation exceeding $40 billion, will give “total attention” to the novel coronavirus.
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The billionaire’s foundation has committed $250 million to help fight the COVID-19 yet and is re-purposing units devoted to combating other diseases to join in the fight against the pandemic.
Globally, the total number of COVID-19 cases nears 3 million while the death toll crossed 2.06 lakh, as per the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
The United States alone accounted for over 9.65 lakh COVIID-19 cases while the death toll in the country has neared 55,000-mark.
(Input from agencies)
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