Bill Gates – “We need to bring this pandemic to a close”

The world could use some big breakthroughs—a vaccine to combat coronavirus and innovations to mitigate climate change among them. The Microsoft Corp. co-founder speaks with Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker about his passion for both, the nightmare that is misinformation, and the difference between Elon Musk and Steve Jobs.

- ^hotograph by Mike Cohen

Bill Gates

Co-chairman,

Bill & Melinda

Gates Foundation

ERIK SCHATZKER: President Trump has made no secret of his desire to see a Covid-19 vaccine soon, ideally before the November election. How worried are you about politics hijacking the approval process?

BILL GATES: Well, that would be a tragedy. Any suggestion that a politician helped create the vaccine or it’s faster because of a politician is a very dangerous thing. We saw with the completely bungled plasma statements that when you start pressuring people to say optimistic things, they go completely off the rails. The FDA lost a lot of credibility there.

Do you still trust the Food and Drug Administration?

Historically, just like the CDC was viewed as the best in the world, the FDA had that same reputation as a top-notch regulator. But there have been some cracks with some of the things they’ve said.

What about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

The CDC is largely being written out of the picture. You have people at the White House who aren’t epidemiologists saying what a great job they’ve done. It’s no longer a set of experts. And the CDC actually did make some mistakes, especially the way they thought about testing.

One of the big risks in politicization is public confidence. Polls show a third of Americans will refuse to get vaccinated and a majority of Americans believe a vaccine is being rushed. Has the damage already been done?