Search icon

Coronavirus

25th Mar 2021

Bill Gates says world will be ‘completely back to normal’ by 2022

Bill Gates predicts that the world will be entirely back to normal by the end of next year, thanks to the rollout of Covid vaccinations

Claudia McInerney

Complete normality to return by the end of next year, Gates predicts

Bill Gates predicts that the world will be entirely back to normal by the end of next year, thanks to the rollout of Covid vaccinations.

The philanthropist said that the global pandemic could only be described as an “incredible tragedy” but is hopeful that the world will return to complete normality by the end of 2022.

During an interview with the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and Television broadcaster TVN24, Gates said: “By the end of 2022 we should be basically completely back to normal.”

The Microsoft co-founder said that the only positive news during the pandemic was the access to Covid-19 vaccinations.

Gates responded to the news that Africa had administered its first dose of the Covid-19 COVAX vaccine earlier this month.

He said on Twitter: “Delivering vaccines to those who need them most, no matter where they live or how much money they have, is the only way to end the pandemic and begin the recovery. This is an important milestone.”

 

Bill Gates’ predictions come weeks after he expressed in an interview for the social media App Clubhouse that people may need to consider altering their behaviour “in a significant way” in the spring or summer months of 2021.

Gates, a billionaire who stepped down as chairman of Microsoft Corp 7 years ago, has committed at least $1.75 billion to the worldwide response to the coronavirus pandemic through his philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

This has provided fundamental support for some producers of vaccines, potential treatments and diagnostics.

The COVAX facility, which has been backed by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), aims to secure approximately 2 billion doses of the vaccine for lower income countries by the end of the year.