Coronavirus: Billionaire Melinda Gates grades Trump administration ‘D-minus’ for pandemic response
She says more funding towards vaccine development and testing is needed
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Your support makes all the difference.Billionaire philanthropist Melinda Gates has graded the Trump administration a D-minus for its coronavirus response, citing how more funding towards vaccines and testing were needed in the United States.
The co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated billions of dollars towards public health research, rated Donald Trump and his administration low because they lacked coordination for the national response to Covid-19.
“You know, if we were doing the things that the exemplar countries are doing, like Germany, we would be testing,” Mrs. Gates told Politico.
“We would be testing, first, health care workers and then the most vulnerable, and you’d be doing contact tracing. And we would be able to start thinking about slowly, slowly reopening places in society in safe and healthy ways, but we have a lack of a coordinated effort. That’s just the truth, across the United States.”
In comparison, she thought the state governors were stepping up with ”50 different homegrown state solutions” to handle the novel virus.
Funding towards vaccines and testing was “absolutely” recommended by Mrs Gates as a proactive response. Organisations should also be looking into funding vaccine development, she added.
The Trump administration was also criticised for its response to the pandemic on an international stage.
“What we’re just beginning to see in Africa, you’re going to see a lot more food insecurity there and a lot more health issues,” Mrs Gates said. “And when you have that there, it also bounces back into Europe, into the United States. So far, more is needed for the international response, which the US really has been lacking in its response completely on the international front.”
Her critical comments come as White House spokesperson Judd Deere has defined the president’s response as an “unprecedented approach” when working with state governors.
“The ongoing response to this global pandemic has been about close coordination and partnerships with State and local governments,” he said.
“The White House has been working with governors and their teams since January on this whole-of-government response, including supply chains, testing, data-driven guidelines for social distancing, and now a responsible plan to open America again.”
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