How one influential billionaire thinks Trump messed up the COVID-19 response

Brian Sozzi
·Executive Editor
3 min read
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Being a team player has its advantages.

President Trump’s “America First” approach to policy-making has perhaps worked well for some things during his nearly four years in the White House. But when it comes to answering the call on the COVID-19 pandemic response, the unwillingness by the Trump administration to work in concert with other countries has probably set the timeline on a full recovery back a great deal.

“I think we wouldn't have so much death in the United States, starting there, if we'd had an appropriate response from leadership. And yes, I think, you know, the U.S. is missing on a lot of these global stages related to the COVID-19 tools. And that's been unfortunate,” Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Melinda Gates told Yahoo Finance. “It’s going to take some time to rebuild that.”

At a high level, the response to the pandemic has been anything but coordinated on a global scale. The richest countries in the world such as the U.S. and UK have moved quickly to secure vaccine deals with the likes of Pfizer and Moderna. While the U.S. was pushing for a fast re-opening of its economy in the summer, the European Union adhered to tighter mobility restrictions.

Meanwhile, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was approved by UK regulators on Dec. 3. It didn’t gain emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration until Dec. 11.

And the numbers on the pandemic show a virus that has gotten completely out of control because of the hodgepodge response, essentially setting new records for infections and deaths each day.

The U.S. saw 186,884 new infections and 1,472 deaths on Dec. 13, according to The Covid Tracking Project. Thus far, the country has seen 16.4 million COVID-19 infections and nearly 300,000 deaths. Worldwide, the pandemic has seen 72.4 million infections and 1.61 million deaths.

Gates told Yahoo Finance she and her husband, Bill, have spoken to President-elect Joe Biden and are confident in a much more globally-minded approach to addressing the pandemic.

“We've already seen him announce an eminently reasonable group of wise people on his COVID task force. And so, I think, you're going to see him re-enter the global stage. He knows the importance of diplomacy from his many, many, many years as a Senator and as a Vice President. And I think you'll see him re-enter all kinds of global mechanisms like the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Treaty. I think you'll see global leadership from him with many of the other nations that have come together, to make sure that COVID tools are accessible by low- and middle-income countries. He knows that for a robust return and recovery in the United States, you've got to get the rest of the world the vaccine, as well,” Gates explained.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said last week it will commit an additional $250 million to support the research, development and equitable delivery of COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines. It marks the foundation’s largest single contribution to the COVID-19 response so far. The foundation’s total commitments to the global COVID-19 response now tallies $1.75 billion.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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