The world could need as many as 14 billion doses of Coronavirus vaccines to help make people immune to the disease according to Bill Gates.
Gates warned “We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible.”
Business Insider reports: In a blog post Thursday, the billionaire Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist outlined what the race for a vaccine could look like, including how long it will take to develop one that’s both safe and effective, how it will be produced, and who should get it first.
“We need to manufacture and distribute at least 7 billion doses of the vaccine,” Gates said, adding that number could be “14 billion, if it’s a multi-dose vaccine.” He said the vaccines should be distributed “as soon as the first batch is ready to go.”
After healthcare workers, people in low-income countries should be first in line for a vaccine when it’s ready since they’re more likely to get sick, Gates said. Higher rates of underlying health conditions, poor healthcare systems, and high population densities that make social-distancing measures harder to implement will allow the disease to spread more easily, he said.
Gates said there would be massive challenges in developing a safe and effective vaccine, as well as in producing, storing, and distributing them on such a large scale, and that it would require extensive global cooperation.
Despite the obstacles, Gates said: “I know it’ll get done. There’s simply no alternative.”
“Humankind has never had a more urgent task than creating broad immunity for coronavirus,” he said. “We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible.”
Niamh Harris