Bill Gates: Six Covid vaccines could be available by spring 2021

Bill Gates has predicted there could be as many as half a dozen Covid-19 vaccines approved and ready for distribution by the spring of 2021, as medical advancements to combat the coronavirus ramp up.

“I expect that we’ll have about six vaccines approved by the first quarter,” Gates said Tuesday, speaking virtually at the Singapore FinTech Festival.

In addition to the already selectively approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Gates said candidates from Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax would also likely be granted authorization over the coming months. He did not name a sixth vaccine source.

“The Western regulators are doing a great job,” he said. “They’ve run these phase three trials in an incredibly professional way, looking for any side effects, looking at efficacy.”

Yet Gates noted that much work remains to be done, including by organizations like his own, to ensure vaccines are fairly distributed to all countries, incredibly less developed ones.

“We need to make sure we (distribute) in a somewhat equitable way. That’s not how rich you determine whether you get access to this vaccine,” said Gates.

Already, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is working with India’s Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine producer by volume, to begin manufacturing and distributing AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate nationally.