Bill Gates finds 'no cost-benefit ratio' in reopening bars until vaccine availability

Bill Gates, the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation, said that he can’t see the cost-benefit ratio of reopening of bars and restaurants as the United States continue to witness a surge in coronavirus cases. Speaking at TIME100 Talks on July 30, Gates said that schools should be opened up if COVID-19 cases get very low but there’s no reason to let bar and restaurants open until there is a vaccine.

“If the numbers get very low, then you can do opening up and things like schools – particularly for young children – should be opened up,” said Gates as US President Donald Trump pushes for reopening of schools.

The co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation highlighted that the transmission risk in bars remain high because people talk loudly and remain close to each other. While he acknowledged that the number of infections in the initial hotspots of coronavirus has declined dramatically, he indicated that the virus response has not been “as tasteful as we might like to be.”

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Vaccine research contribution

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated millions of dollars for coronavirus vaccine and treatment research programmes. In February, the foundation pledged to donate $100 million to coronavirus vaccine research and treatment efforts and months later, it pledged additional $1.6 billion to the Gavi vaccine alliance, a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

Recently, Gates said that the South Korean pharmaceutical company SK Bioscience may be capable of producing 200 million coronavirus vaccine doses by June 2021. In a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Gates sought close cooperation with the Asian nation but the presidential office has not elaborated on it. 

In May, Gates Foundation provided $3.6 million to SK Bioscience to accelerate the development of coronavirus vaccines. Apart from developing its own vaccine, the pharma company has also taken the contract from AstraZeneca Plc to manufacture its vaccine AZD1222, which is currently undergoing a large-scale Phase III human trial.

Read: Bill Gates Backs South Korean Firm For Producing 200 Mn Vaccine Doses By June 2021

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(Image: AP)