ImpactAlpha, April 6 – The Gates Foundation announced in February that it was turning its attention to climate change and gender equity. That was pre-COVID.
The foundation now plans to build manufacturing facilities for seven of the most promising COVID vaccines to accelerate production even before their effectiveness is proven.
“It’ll be a few billion dollars we’ll waste on manufacturing for the constructs that don’t get picked because something else is better,” Bill Gates told The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah. But given the lives and trillions of dollars at stake, “it is worth it,” he said.
The foundation also has backed, with Wellcome and Mastercard, a $125 million vaccine accelerator.