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Why I made a deerskin medicine bag with Washington state’s Teacher of the Year (self.Teachers)

submitted by thisisbillgates to r/Teachers

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Fifty years ago, I started playing this little-known sport with a funny name. Now it’s all the rage. (youtube.com)

submitted by thisisbillgates

3 things we can do right now by thisisbillgates in u/thisisbillgates

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 60 points61 points  (0 children)

We don’t have to live in fear of another global catastrophe. When I sat down to write my recent book, my goal was to create a concrete list of steps the world could take to prevent the next pandemic.

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3 things we can do right now (gatesnotes.com)

submitted by thisisbillgates2

Moderna says Omicron-containing booster outperforms current vaccine by jackspratdodat in Coronavirus

[–]thisisbillgates 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Exciting progress. Vaccines that address variants are crucial to ending this pandemic.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 982 points983 points  (0 children)

We are still working on this. At first the project was a US-China joint venture but the US cancelled that. So now we are building the demo reactor in Wyoming where a coal plant is closing. It is very promising in terms of the cost and safety advances. If things go well a lot of these reactors will help solve climate change. Eventually we want reactors globally but the first ones will be in the US even though competing with natural gas electricity is hard here.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 869 points870 points  (0 children)

The Foundation has a lot of Medical experts. It takes a huge range of skills to do things like Malaria eradication or Covid vaccines and therapeutics. I listen to the experts on specific medical advice. The system to prevent pandemics will require a lot more than just doctors so I wrote a book to start the discussion of what it should look like.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 459 points460 points  (0 children)

The key is to be able to make things like electricity, steel, cement and meat without any emissions but at a cost equal or lower than today's cost. My efforts at Breakthrough Energy is to fund the innovators and help them scale up. I am optimistic because the progress on innovation in the last 3 years with the companies that have been funded is going very well.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 191 points192 points  (0 children)

Our Foundation is funding the low cost vaccine manufacturers to do mRNA vaccines. They used other platforms for pandemic vaccines but in the future we will make sure they can do mRNA as well. We are funding mRNA to be used for HIV and Malaria.

All the steps to get Covid vaccines out were done by the summer of 2020 and it lead to huge scaling up to put us in the oversupply situation we are in today. With the right technologies we can do it a lot faster and more equitably in the future.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 1045 points1046 points  (0 children)

Although those lawsuits were tough I have been super lucky in my life and I had a good team of people working with me to help get them settled and move ahead.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 1182 points1183 points  (0 children)

Astra-Zeneca not only allowed people to copy - they helped other companies copy it. We helped fund Serum to make 1.4B of the A-Z vaccine. Because of efforts like this supply is not longer the limiting factor.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 287 points288 points  (0 children)

I never traded in Gamestop long or short.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 2124 points2125 points  (0 children)

I was stunned when I found out that a life could be saved for under $1000. This came when I read about what kids die of including the 1993 World Development report. So our Foundation (supported by Warren Buffett's incredible generosity) prioritized this.

The success of our work in Global Health is well beyond what I would have expected.

I do work with other philanthropists a lot including through the Giving Pledge where they can learn and be encouraged to be bold.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 1236 points1237 points  (0 children)

For some high value crops it can work. For the cereal crops like wheat, rice and maize it is unlikely to ever be economic. We can improve seeds for all crops a lot to increase productivity - this is a key investment to help reduce the problems caused by climate change.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 5326 points5327 points  (0 children)

A smaller chair than I could do at age 30... Pretty small now.

I try to stay fit playing a lot of tennis.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 5509 points5510 points 722& 2 more (0 children)

I must be wearing the wrong kind of tin foil hat because it doesn't work for me.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 1400 points1401 points  (0 children)

The ideal thing is to read a lot and hopefully find a skill you enjoy that can have impact. For some that means being great at science or engineering. For some it means being a great communicator or politician. For some it means being a nurse or a doctor. The opportunity to learn is better today than ever before.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 2165 points2166 points  (0 children)

There is nuclear fission. If it can solve the cost, safety and waste concerns it can make a massive contribution to solving climate change. I am biased because I have been investing over a billion in this starting over a decade ago.

Also promising is nuclear fusion. It is less clear if we will succeed but it has less safety and waste issues if it works.

So I am hopeful nuclear will improve and be a huge help for climate.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 1685 points1686 points  (0 children)

If we do succeed in polio eradication that will be super joyful. It has taken a lot of patience and great strategy to get close to success. The thing that has succeeded the best so far is funding vaccines for poor countries through GAVI.

I do like burgers, nice tennis racquets and all the great streaming services but nothing too unique.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 2345 points2346 points  (0 children)

Two of Smil's latest Grand Transitions and How the World Really Works are great. Pinker has a lot of great books including The Better Angels of our Nature. I am just finishing the Coddling of the American Mind which was good. Ezra Klein's book on Polarization is good. Of course fiction books are more fun like Heart or A Gentleman in Moscow or All the Light you cannot see...

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 539 points540 points  (0 children)

We can make vaccines that have 3 additional things: broad coverage, long duration and infection blocking. These need to be R&D priorities to prevent pandemics but they will also be super helpful for all sorts of diseases.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 288 points289 points  (0 children)

The new variants come along and evade immunity from vaccination and infection. Also immunity wanes fairly quickly in the elderly. When the cases are high people do change their behavior and when they are low they go back to normal behavior. So you get huge ups and downs in the case rate driven by seasons, variants and people's behavior. Fortunately Omicron is less fatal than previous variants.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 3027 points3028 points  (0 children)

Some of the so called LMIC (Low Middle Income) countries have huge promise - Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Indonesia. In Africa it is important for Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ethiopia to succeed. Ethiopia was doing well until the civil unrest so hopefully they can get past that. Some of the smaller countries are doing well but we need the big ones to also do well.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 1338 points1339 points  (0 children)

The world did not get the vaccines out in an equitable way. Places like India did well because the Gates Foundation, Serum and the Government of India worked together to make 1.4B doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccines. It was a tragedy that old people in countries like South Africa got vaccines after young people in other countries. My book talks about how we can do better next time. Today there is plenty of vaccine but still the distribution and demand is holding back coverage.

I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of “How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.” Ask Me Anything. by thisisbillgates in IAmA

[–]thisisbillgates[S] 2818 points2819 points  (0 children)

We are gaining understanding of malnutrition. Solving this would be huge for the 40% of kids in Africa who never fully develop their brains or bodies. We still need to prevent and cure HIV. We need to eradicate Malaria (which will take decades). We are close to eradicating polio. Other areas like better contraception or understanding and preventing pre-term birth and still births show promise.

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