Inside STAT: Bill Gates slams ‘shocking’ U.S. response to Covid-19 pandemic

PHILANTHROPIST BILL GATES (GETTY IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES FOR ALL IN W)

In a new, wide-ranging interview with STAT's Helen Branswell, philanthropist Bill Gates sounded exasperated at times as he described how poorly handed the U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been. “It’s shocking. It’s unbelievable — the fact that we would be among the worst in the world,” he said. Gates didn't hold back criticism for FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, who recently misstated the survival benefit of convalescent plasma therapy for Covid-19 from a Mayo Clinic study. “This is third grade math. I mean, are you kidding?” Gates said. His comments come as a new report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation finds significant backsliding in childhood vaccinations, an increase in food insecurity, and what Gates called a "super worrying" rise in poverty around the world.