Coronavirus: when life can return to normal, according to Bill Gates
- Only a vaccine can fix this global problem, billionaire philanthropist says
- In 2015, Gates said the world's largest threat was a pandemic
Life can only fully return to normal once a vaccine to combat the new coronavirus is available globally, according to Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates.
A vaccine against the virus is not expected to be available before next year.
Work needed to be done quickly on the development of a new vaccine to enable a “billions of doses capacity” as quickly as possible, Gates said in an interview with the US broadcaster Fox News on Sunday.
Developed nations, like the United States, will be able to combat the virus sooner or later, he said, but the virus needed to be defeated globally.
“Things will not get back to truly normal until we have a vaccine that has gotten out to, basically, the entire world,” Gates told Fox News.
On Thursday, Gates called on the US government to start constructing factories for the most promising vaccine developments in the fight against the virus.