Gates tackles pandemic, conspiracy theories

“We’re not as close to the end of this pandemic as we would like but we have learned a lot about how to stop this happening again,” Gates said in announcing the book this month.

It will set out specific steps for how society can prevent future pandemics and provide better global healthcare, he said. There will be lessons from his conversations with public health leaders, including the chief medical advisor to the United States President, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the leader of the United Nations Health Agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“No one needs to be convinced that an infectious disease could kill millions of people or shut down the global economy,” Gates writes in a post on his long-running GatesNotes blog. “If we make the right choices and investments, we can make COVID-19 the last pandemic.”

Since leaving Microsoft, Gates has turned his attention to global health issues, pledging billions to combat COVID-19 and raise awareness of the threat of climate change through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The latter was the subject of his previous book.

Gates had long warned about the potential threat of a global pandemic. He has also been vocal about the importance of vaccines since COVID-19 emerged. The foundation has pledged USD2 billion in total since January 2020 to fight its spread.

Gates has become the subject of online conspiracy theories, claiming that he was exploiting the vaccines to implant microchips in people. He plans to address this experience in the book.

Gates uses his blog to make public announcements and share his thoughts on various topics, including the metaverse, vaccines and other business books.

In his end-of-year blog post, he revealed that 2021 had been “the most unusual and difficult year” following his divorce from wife Melinda.

Allegations also emerged that he’d had an extramarital affair and mistreated employees, the second of which was denied by a Microsoft spokesperson.

“How to Avoid a Climate Catastrophe” will be published by Penguin Random House in the UK and Knopf in the United States.