“The transition is complicating, but the new administration is willing to rely on actual experts and not attack those experts,” Gates, the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview that aired Sunday on “State of the Union.”
In his interview with Tapper, Gates praised Biden’s incoming administration for “laying out clear plans” to slow the spread of Covid-19, adding that “I think we’ll get through this in a positive way.”
“You know I’m pleased with the people and the priority that President-elect Biden and his team are bringing to bear on this problem,” he said.
Gates lauded Biden for “doing his best to retain” Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who Gates said would be “willing to admit when things aren’t going well” and “deliver tough messages.”
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“I do think the US will not be one of the worst performers, as the (Biden) team comes into office,” he added.
Gates noted in his interview that the US “would’ve been expected to be the best” when it came to the pandemic given its federal health agencies and various technologies, but “sadly … we didn’t get on top of it like many countries did,” adding that future post-mortems on the crisis “will guide us.”
During his interview with Tapper, Gates confirmed that he has spoke with Biden about the pandemic.
The price to pay each year “to avoid, you know, a trillions of dollars disaster — I think that roadmap’s clear, and I talked with the President-elect about that. And you know, I think our foundation will be part of that dialogue to make sure we don’t blow it again,” Gates said.
Gates told Tapper that distribution “should be based on medical need, not wealth at all.”
“After all, this epidemic has been awful in the way that it’s exacerbated inequities,” he said.
Gates also said he is “super happy with all of these vaccines” and that when it’s his turn for vaccination, “I will visibly take the vaccine. Because I think that it’s a benefit to all people to not be transmitting.”
CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.