Bill Gates: World Won't Return to 'Normal' Until 'End of 2022'
Billionaire predicts that vaccines will bring life 'back to normal' next year
© press
Billionaire Bill Gates has predicted that life will not return to pre-pandemic "normal" until "the end of 2022."
Microsoft founder Gates said the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines will bring the world "back to normal," but insists it won't be any time soon.
Gates told Polish media: “By the end of 2022 we should be basically completely back to normal” according to Reuters.
The third-richest man in the world said the pandemic “is an incredible tragedy” but notes that the only good news was the access to vaccines.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Gates’ philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $1.75 billion to support vaccines and possible treatments worldwide.
In December, Gates also made a similar prediction about when life may get back to normal.
© press
“Certainly, by the summer will be way closer to normal than we are now, but even through early 2022, unless we help other countries get rid of this disease and we get high vaccinations rates in our country, the risk of reintroduction will be there,” the billionaire said in an interview with CNN.
"And, of course, the global economy will be slowed down, which hurts America economically in a pretty dramatic way.
“So we will have, starting in the summer, about nine months where a few things like big public gatherings will still be restricted.
"But we can see now that somewhere between 12 to 18 months, we have a chance, if we manage it well, to get back to normal.”
Gates made headlines in February when he said that he believes “rich countries” such as the United States, should switch to consuming 100 percent synthetic beef, according to Breitbart.
© press
He argued that man-made meats must be consumed by everyone to combat climate change.
"I don’t think the poorest 80 countries will be eating synthetic meat,” Gates told MIT Technology Review.
"I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef.
"You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time."
“Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behavior of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand.”
