Bill Gates says he struggles to trust the CDC and FDA because officials with 'crackpot theories' have sidelined top-notch experts
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Hilary Brueck
Sep 16, 2020, 00:31 IST
Bill Gates is seen in October 2019.Nicolas Liponne/NurPhoto via Getty
Bill Gates is not sugarcoating how he feels about the US coronavirus response: It is bad.
He told STAT's Helen Branswell that the US response to the virus has "been a mismanaged situation every step of the way," and said: "it’s unbelievable — the fact that we would be among the worst in the world.”
"You have people at the White House who aren't epidemiologists, you know, saying what a great job they've done," Gates also told Bloomberg. "So it's no longer a set of experts."
"This is third grade math. I mean, are you kidding?" Gates told STAT's Helen Branswell of the convalescent plasma snafu. "The head of the FDA got up and said it was a 35% death reduction where it's not even a 3% reduction, based on just a tiny little subset that was nonstatistical. This is unheard of."
When asked by Bloomberg "do you still trust the FDA?" Gates seemed unsure.
"I think in the FDA, there's a lot of professionals," Gates told Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker. "Historically, just like the CDC was viewed as the best in the world, the FDA had that same reputation as a top-notch regulator. But, you know, there's been some cracks with some of the things they've said at the commissioner level. Hopefully, the staff isn't pulled in that direction."
As for the CDC, Gates said it's near-impossible to take the public health agency's advice seriously anymore, as the scientists working there have largely been silenced in favor of watered-down advice that better mirrors the Trump administration's rosy and shrugging "it is what it is" outlook on the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far killed more than 193,000 people across the US.
"The CDC is largely being written out of the picture," Gates told Bloomberg. "Because you have people at the White House who aren't epidemiologists, you know, saying what a great job they've done. And so it's no longer a set of experts."
Hiring people who believe in 'crackpot theories'
Former Donald Trump campaign official Michael Caputo, left, joined by his attorney Dennis C. Vacco, leaves after being interviewed by Senate Intelligence Committee staff investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May 1, 2018.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
"The administration's now hired this Stanford guy who has no background at all just because he agrees with their crackpot theories," Gates said of Atlas, in his interview with STAT.
With or without leadership from the US, Gates is confident that the world will get back on track towards the development goals of reducing poverty and eliminating deadly vaccine-preventable diseases, in the next two to three years.
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But first, everyone will need equitable access to a coronavirus vaccine.
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