Bill Gates’s coronavirus vaccine could be ready in 12 months

The philanthropist and founder of Microsoft Corp. said that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment exceeding $40 billion, will give “total attention” to the pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 and is roiling economies around the world, he said in an interview with the newspaper.

Billionaire Bill Gates’s foundation will focus all of its resources on fighting the coronavirus, according to the Financial Times.

(FILES) In this file photo US Microsoft founder, Co-Chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, poses for a picture on October 9, 2019, in Lyon, central eastern France, during the funding conference of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. - Microsoft on Friday announced that co-founder Bill Gates has left its board of directors to devote more time to philanthropy. (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)(AFP)

The philanthropist and founder of Microsoft Corp. said that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment exceeding $40 billion, will give “total attention” to the pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 and is roiling economies around the world, he said in an interview with the newspaper.

“You’re going to have economies with greatly reduced activity levels for years,” Gates said. The pandemic could cost the global economy “tens of trillions of dollars,” he said in the interview.

The foundation has contributed $250 million to help counter the coronavirus and is re-purposing units dedicated to fighting other diseases to join in the battle against the pandemic.

“We’ve taken an organization that was focused on HIV and malaria and polio eradication, and almost entirely shifted it to work on this,” he told the FT.

Gates also defended the World Health Organization against accusations from U.S. President Donald Trump that the body had mishandled the virus response.

“WHO is clearly very, very important and should actually get extra support to perform their role during this epidemic,” Gates said. He said he doesn’t believe Trump will follow through on his threat to withdraw funding for the WHO.