Melinda Gates: Will the world be generous enough to defeat COVID-19?

Remarks as delivered at the Paris Peace Forum on November 12, 2020.

President Macron, Dr. Tedros: It’s wonderful to share the virtual stage with you.

2020 has been a hard year to be an optimist. Even now, it’s hard. France is entering its second lockdown of the year. The United States is enduring its third wave of the virus. And one million people have died around the world.

Despite these challenging times, I believe we’re in a more hopeful place than we were just six months ago.

Back in the spring, it wasn’t a given that we’d be able to develop vaccines and drugs to fight the virus. But where it stands today, it’s likely we’ll have at least one safe, effective vaccine ready to go early next year—maybe more than one vaccine. 

It wasn’t a given that we’d have a global strategy to beat this virus—or if we did, we couldn’t be certain that it would be a good one.

We also didn’t know if the strategy would be rooted in the principles of fair access. Would the goal be protecting everyone from this disease? Not just people in wealthy countries, but everyone?

The organizations involved in ACT-A have done a phenomenal job. They’ve stood up the operation to manufacture billions of doses of drugs and vaccines—and deliver them all around the world. 

It’s amazing how many people across the health field have chipped in and put this effort before their own interests. 

There are the scientists, who rather than waiting to publish their findings in journals, have shared data with their colleagues.   

There are the pharma companies that are cooperating in ways competitors almost never cooperate: Remdesivir, which was invented by Gilead, is now being produced in Pfizer factories.

And vaccine makers, like AstraZeneca, have committed to forgo any profits; they’re scaling up manufacturing as much as possible.

Let me be clear about this: This might not have happened without France.

From the first days of this effort, the leaders here have been voices for good governance, saying that we can’t just pour money into an effort without being absolutely certain it’s backed by the right principles. Now it is. And we have to make sure it stays that way.

But here’s something else I think every leader needs to recognize: During this pandemic, it’s not enough to put the right values behind our money. We also have to put enough money behind our values. 

We’re talking about the largest public health effort in the history of the world. It won’t be inexpensive.

The world needs funding for new, more affordable diagnostics. It needs funding for more effective drugs. And it needs funding to buy and deliver vaccines in low-income countries. In fact, distributing vaccines may be the most important thing. 

President Macron and President von der Leyen: Thank you for your generosity today. Both France and the EC are each donating an additional 100 million euros. That money will go towards the ACT Accelerator’s effort to bring COVID-19 vaccines to all countries. 

[Note: After Melinda’s speech, Spain’s President, Pedro Sanchez pledged 50 million euros to this effort, as well] 

Our foundation is also making a contribution today, too: We’re donating another $70 million to fight COVID-19: $50 million for buying vaccine doses for low-income countries; and another $20 million for researching new vaccines altogether. 

These are big dollar amounts, and they’re important—but we still have a long way to go. 

Wealthy nations have spent the summer pre-purchasing doses of vaccine. This way, their people can be immunized as soon as those vaccines are ready. 

But what about the low- and lower-middle income nations of the world? Countries ranging from South Sudan to Nicaragua. They’re home to nearly half of all human beings. 

As things stand now, these countries won’t have nearly enough doses. The estimate is that, at most, they’ll only be able to cover 20% of their people. Four out of every five people would remain vulnerable to this disease. 

This would be tragedy for the entire world, not just low-income nations. 

Even with an oversupply of vaccine, wealthy nations risk re-infection because not everyone will take the vaccine.  

We could all become like Australia and New Zealand—both nations have done remarkable jobs fighting this virus. They’ve gone long stretches with very few cases inside their borders. But without a vaccine, their economies remain depressed because their trading partners are on lockdown—and, occasionally, a new carrier of the virus makes his way across the South Pacific. New clusters of the disease pop up. Those clusters grow and spread. Schools and offices are shut down again.  

Here’s the bottom line: Whether France has to enter a third lockdown—or the United States sees a fourth wave—all depends on whether we are able to help the rest of the world fight this virus. And that will take more funding. 

For 20 years, Bill and I have been asking presidents, prime ministers, and other policymakers in wealthy countries to give money to help improve the health of people around the world. 

I’ve met with nationalist leaders who are skeptical. I’ve met with humanitarian leaders who are generous. But COVID-19 has made that distinction irrelevant. 

In this pandemic, there’s no difference between helping yourself and helping others. The self-interested thing—and the selfless thing—are one and the same. 

Thank you so much for having me today.