How much money has Bill Gates donated to the global fight against COVID-19?

Undeniably, the American billionaire is one of the most active in the fight against the human race against COVID-19. In June, Bill Gates made public waves by announcing he was ready to fund seven COVID-19 vaccine factories even though the vaccine was not yet fully developed.

Earlier in February, through a charity in the name of his wife Bill & Melinda Gates, the billionaire declared emergency assistance of $ 100 million for efforts to test and quickly diagnose the disease. It was followed by a similar donation worth $ 150 million.

In August, as the COVID-19 vaccines began entering human clinical trials, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation continued to pledge $ 150 million in funding to help the poor. Most in the world can buy COVID-19 vaccine for as little as 3 USD / dose.

Through a global vaccine distribution initiative called Gavi, Bill Gates also promised to fund them $ 1.6 billion over five years, including $ 100 million spent on COVID vaccines. -19.

Prior to that, Gavi also received $ 4 billion from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to run a 20-year endurance vaccination campaign that has saved the lives of 13 million children worldwide.

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates

Last month, Bill Gates’ wife Melinda Gates continued to pledge to support an additional $ 70 million in efforts to distribute vaccines to poor countries.

And as recently as December, after the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine were widely approved, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced additional support of up to $ 250 million to bolster its efforts. global force to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new grant will focus on two main areas: continuing research to develop vaccine R&D and new COVID-19 therapies, and improving vaccine and drug delivery approaches to this process. happens as safely, fairly and as cheaply as possible on a large scale.

Above all, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hopes it will ensure that low- and middle-income countries have access to cutting-edge technology, just like rich nations. “They deserve the same things we have,” Gates said.

In total, the amount of money that the American billionaire has supported in the pandemic reached 2.32 billion USD.

We need a unified solution to end the pandemic

If the anti-COVID-19 effort is considered a war on a global scale, it won’t just take place on the front lines. A war also requires a lot of investment in logistics systems and supply chains, especially a weapon to counter the virus, and that is now vaccines.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that while the first COVID vaccines have been developed and can be marketed, their prices are still too expensive.

” The holy grail we are targeting is an ideal, low cost, and ideal vaccine that only requires a single injection ,” he said. ” That’s why it’s so important to keep investing in their development.”

COVID-19 is a completely new disease, which means we are not immune to the virus. ” Vaccination therefore needs to be made available to everyone, or at least 70% of the global population, on average we need 10 billion doses ,” Suzman said.

” And again, even the available vaccines have not been shown to be safe and effective for children or pregnant mothers or others, so we may need the vaccine. please second “.

That’s why the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation continues to pledge an additional $ 250 million in funding for new vaccine efforts.

Another problem they want to solve is the psychological fear and distrust of vaccines. It is being driven by conspiracy theories and the purely anti-vax movement.

” I am very unhappy to see these misinformation because it creates a psychology of vaccine hesitation,” Gates said. ” We’ll have to work hard to put in place some better regulation on social media platforms so disinformation doesn’t spread so easily. Distorted information is actually causing a lot of people. die over “.

The billionaire said the fight against fake news and conspiracy theories about vaccines should not only take place on social media and media. It should be done in real-world communities.

” Chances are, once people start to see health workers taking vaccines, the elderly, the teachers taking them and getting back to normal life, people will talk to the doctors. and decide if it makes sense for them and more likely they can return to a more normal life, too, “ Gates said.

How will the charitable money be distributed?

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has not yet determined which partners or individuals will receive funds, but in the past they have experience funding international organizations for infectious diseases and immunotherapy, for example. such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as well as private biotechnology companies, such as BioNTech.

As of 2019, that is, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation disbursed $ 16 billion for worldwide vaccine discovery, development and delivery. Only the money they poured and Gavi was used to vaccinate 750 million people and save 13 million of them lives.

Suzman said the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s charitable funds could be used in a variety of ways, from capital aid to risky investments, both for private companies and the government and the public sector. ” We will look at each specific case, where the need is greatest and where there is opportunity , “ Suzman said.

The support of Bill Gates and his charitable foundation is also a spearhead to attract more resources,

“We are trying to do and get support from other partners at the same time. One thing we can do, is to become a seed sponsor to continue to accelerate or help attract. the attention of many others, “ Suzman said.

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