The Trump administration just backtracked and said a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for Americans — after triggering massive blowback
Joseph Zeballos-Roig  Feb 27, 2020

President Donald Trump with Health and Human Services 

Secretary Alex Azar. Reuters

The Trump administration reversed itself on Thursday and said a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for the American public after it generated a storm of criticism over the drug's potential high cost.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said he would guarantee public access to a vaccine.

Only a day earlier, he declined to do so and cited the need for financial involvement from the private sector.

The development of a vaccine that successfully treats COVID-19 is still far off — at least a year in the best case scenario.

The Trump administration reversed itself on Thursday and said a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for Americans amid a storm of criticism over its possible high cost.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told lawmakers during a congressional hearing that he would guarantee public access to a vaccine that treats COVID-19, the disease that the coronavirus causes.

"I have directed my teams that if we do any joint venture with a private enterprise, that we're cofunding the research and development program, that we would ensure there's access to the fruits of that, whether vaccine or therapeutics," Azar said.

The remarks come a day after Azar triggered massive blowback when he didn't promise a coronavirus vaccine would be financially accessible to most Americans.

"We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price because we need the private sector to invest," Azar told lawmakers at another congressional hearing. "Price controls won't get us there."

Democrats immediately hit back. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a press conference on Thursday: "This would be a vaccine that is developed with the taxpayer dollars … and we think that should be available to everyone, not dependent on Big Pharma."

The development of a vaccine that successfully treats COVID-19 is still far off — at least a year in the best case scenario, given the rounds of rigorous testing involved on animals and humans.

Anthony Fauci, a top official at the National Institute of Health, said on Wednesday it would take between 12 and 18 months to create one and placed the focus on public-health measures instead to curb the virus' spread in the US.

The Trump administration is seeking a multibillion-dollar emergency spending package to fight the coronavirus, which has spread to over 47 countries from its point of origin in China. There are at least 60 confirmed cases in the US so far, most of which developed abroad.

At least $1 billion of the federal funding would be directed toward the creation of a vaccine, The Washington Post reported.


The Trump administration reversed course after saying the coronavirus vaccine might not be affordable for all Americans

Eliza Relman  Feb 26, 2020

President Donald Trump with Health and Human Services
 Secretary Alex Azar. Reuters

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday declined to promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for all Americans, sparking outrage from Democrats.
"We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price because we need the private sector to invest," Azar told members of Congress.
On Monday, the president asked Congress for $2.5 billion in funding to fight the coronavirus — including more than $1 billion designated for vaccine development.
Democratic leadership criticized the president's request as "anemic" and inadequate.
The administration reversed itself Thursday and said a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for the American public, after generating a storm of criticism over its potential high cost

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday declined to promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for all Americans.

"We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price because we need the private sector to invest," Azar told members of Congress during a hearing concerning the coronavirus outbreak and the administration's budget request. "Price controls won't get us there."
—Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) February 26, 2020
—NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 26, 2020

Democrats and other critics quickly condemned Azar.

"Secretary Azar is refusing to promise that a Coronavirus vaccine will be affordable to every American. Kick them out of office," Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, tweeted Wednesday evening.

The progressive group Center for American Progress tweeted, "This is a global health crisis, and everyone should have the right to medication that will help protect them from this virus."


While government and private researchers around the world are working quickly to develop a vaccine for the virus, it is estimated that any vaccine is still several months away. The best preventive measure is regular thorough handwashing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed Azar's comments on Thursday and said any vaccine developed with taxpayer dollars would need to be made affordable.

After significant backlash, the administration reversed course Thursday and said any future COVID-19 vaccine would be made affordable.

"I have directed my teams that if we do any joint venture with a private enterprise, that we're co-funding the research-and-development program, that we would ensure there's access to the fruits of that, whether vaccine or therapeutics," Azar said.

On Monday, the president asked Congress for $2.5 billion in funding to fight the coronavirus — including more than $1 billion designated for vaccine development. Democratic leadership criticized the president's request as "anemic" and inadequate.


As of Wednesday, the US had confirmed 60 cases of the novel coronavirus that originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed nearly 2,800 people and infected more than 81,000 since December. The vast majority of cases and deaths have been in China.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed cases in six states: Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, and Wisconsin. Officials have recorded two cases of human-to-human transmission among family members.

Aria Bendix, Rosie Perper, and Lauren Frias contributed to this report. 

NOW WATCH: Donald Trump's anti-vaccination theory is wrong and dangerous

Trump accuses Democrats of politicizing the coronavirus, calling criticism of his handling of the outbreak their 'new hoax'
Lauren Frias

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020, in North Charleston, S.C. Patrick Semansky/AP


President Donald Trump accused Democrats of "politicizing" the coronavirus, calling their criticism of how he has responded to the disease their "new hoax."
Trump held a rally on Friday in Charleston, South Carolina, for his presidential campaign, where he lambasted Democrats for their criticism regarding his handling of the outbreak.
Trump's comments came after two more cases of coronavirus emerged in the US, bringing the total number of cases in the US to at least 64 cases.
President Donald Trump said mounting fears of the coronavirus are the "new hoax" of the Democrats, accusing them of politicizing the disease.

Trump held a rally on Friday in Charleston, South Carolina, for his presidential campaign, where he lambasted Democrats for their criticism regarding his handling of the outbreak.

"Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus," Trump said, adding, "They can't even count their votes in Iowa," referring to the disastrous Iowa caucuses earlier this month.

"They tried to get you on Russia, Russia, Russia; they couldn't do it," he continued. "They tried the impeachment hoax that was on a perfect conversation ... This is their new hoax."

Trump's comments came after two more cases of coronavirus emerged in the US on Friday. In addition, 44 infected passengers who were aboard the Diamond Princess during the quarantine as well as three evacuees from Wuhan, China — the epicenter of the outbreak — were repatriated, bringing the total number of cases in the US to 64 cases.

"[The coronavirus] starts in China, bleeds its way into various countries around the world," the president said, saying it didn't "spread widely at all in the United States because of the early actions" of him and his administration.

Trump also relayed that there were only 15 confirmed cases of the coronavirus during the rally (there are 64), and he only briefly mentioned the Diamond Princess passengers and Wuhan evacuees during a press conference on Wednesday.
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 29, 2020

Trump made a request to Congress asking for $1.8 billion to fund coronavirus relief efforts, on top of using $535 million from the ebola relief budget. Democrats and some Republicans condemned the request, calling it an "inadequate amount" to handle the coronavirus spread.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed a budget of $8.5 billion for the coronavirus budget. Trump mentioned Schumer's proposal, saying he undercut the request since he didn't think Congress would grant him that large of a budget.

Read more:
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Trump claimed coronavirus could 'disappear' in the United States, adding to the administration's mixed messages

Trump barred a top health expert from speaking freely about the coronavirus. It's one of many ways the administration has muzzled scientists.

Aylin Woodward BUSINESS INSIDER 

US president Donald Trump looks on as Director of the 

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the 

National Institutes of Health Anthony Fauci speaks during

 a news conference on the COVID-19 outbreak at the 

White House on February 26, 2020.

 Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty


The Trump administration reportedly barred Anthony Fauci, one of the US' top experts on infectious disease, from speaking publicly about the coronavirus without approval.

Fauci has tackled the AIDS and Ebola epidemics. He's been director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.

Some of Fauci's statements about the coronavirus have been at odds with claims from President Trump, who has said the illness will disappear.

It's not first time the Trump administration has muzzled scientific experts.
Anthony Fauci has been the director of the US' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for 36 years. He guided the US through the AIDS and Ebola epidemics, and is now helping to lead the response to the new coronavirus outbreak.

But the Trump administration has reportedly barred him from speaking about the virus without clearance from the White House, according to The New York Times.

The coronavirus has killed nearly 3,000 people and infected 83,800. It has spread from China to more than 55 other countries.

Although Trump said the US is "rapidly developing a vaccine" for the coronavirus and "will essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner," Fauci has estimated that we're between a year and a year-and-a-half away from a vaccine. Trump also expressed optimism that COVID-19 — the disease the virus causes — will disappear, but Fauci has suggested the world is on the brink of a pandemic.

In an apparent bid to exert more control over the messaging around this public-health crisis, The Times reported, the administration instructed Fauci "not to say anything else without clearance." A NIAID spokesperson told Business Insider that "this is not true," however.

Still, the Trump administration has a history of muzzling scientific experts. In the last four years, the White House has prevented meteorologists from discussing hurricane forecasts, Health and Homeland Security staff from commenting on gun violence after mass shootings, and US Geological Survey scientists from mentioning climate change.

Here are some examples of the Trump administration's attacks on science, which have often come in the midst of public crises.

As Hurricane Dorian barreled through the Caribbean on September 1, Trump incorrectly tweeted that the storm would hit Alabama. He later displayed a forecast map that had been doctored with a sharpie to include Alabama — information at odds with National Weather Service's prediction.

President Trump holds up a doctored graphic of Hurricane 

Dorian's trajectory, September 4, 2019. White House/Twitter

After National Weather Service forecasters took to social media to correct Trump's mistake, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a memo that disavowed the statements disputing the president's claims.

NOAA then released a statement supporting Trump's claims and refuting its own previous forecasts.

That dramatic reversal, according to The New York Times, came about because White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to ensure that NWS forecasters didn't contradict the president. Ross threatened to fire top NOAA officials if they didn't tamp down on the forecasters' comments.

Following back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, last year, staff at the Department of Health and Human Services were told to get approval before posting anything on social media related to mental health, violence, or mass shootings.

A woman leans over to write a message on a cross at a 

makeshift memorial at the scene of a mass shooting at a 

shopping complex in El Paso, Texas, August 6, 2019.

John Locher/Associated Press

Trump linked gun violence to mental illness at the time: "Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun," he said.

But research suggests Trump's comment was bogus. Mental-health issues are not predictive of violent outbursts: Although as many as one in five people in the US experience mental illness every year, people with serious mental-health problems account for just 3% of all violent crime.


In November, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a rule that would require scientists to make their data public to the agency before their findings could be used in EPA policy decisions about public health.

Donald Trump delivers remarks with EPA acting Administrator 

Andrew Wheeler (L) at the White House State Leadership 

Day Conference on October 23, 2018. Win McNamee/Getty

That would cripple clean air and water regulations, CNN reported, because those public-health policies are rooted in studies that utilize confidential health records or disclosures.

According to The New York Times, the proposal would also retroactively halt the further use of research already referenced by the EPA if scientists didn't make that data public (including confidential medical records).

When a Department of Agriculture scientist's 2018 research revealed that rising carbon emissions will make rice less nutritious, the Trump administration questioned the findings then tried to minimize media coverage.

A farmer visits her rice paddy field in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Reuters/Nguyen Huy Kham

The USDA not send out a press release about the research, and they also declined to give the researcher, Lewis Ziska, permission to do media interviews.

Ziska had worked at the USDA for two decades, but he left his post in 2019, according to Politico.


In March 2019, US Geological Survey research found that sea-level rise and flooding will impact 600,000 Californians and cause $150 billion in property damages by 2100. But the accompanying press release downplayed that information.

A man and his son watch as waves crash off sea cliffs 

along the southeast shore of Oahu as Hurricane Lane 

approaches Honolulu on August 24, 2018. Caleb Jones/AP

The press release accompanying the study didn't include the expected costs of rising sea levels at all.

"An earlier draft of the news release, written by researchers, was sanitized by Trump administration officials, who removed references to the dire effects of climate change after delaying its release for several months, according to three federal officials who saw it," E&E News reporter Scott Waldman, who broke the news, wrote.

One anonymous federal researcher reportedly told Waldman: "It's been made clear to us that we're not supposed to use climate change in press releases anymore. They will not be authorized."

"Climate change" isn't the only phrase the Trump administration has censored. Two years ago, the administration prohibited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using the words "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based," and "science-based" in 2018 budget documents.

The main Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) campus in Atlanta, Georgia. Tami Chappell/Reuters

According to the Washington Post, CDC staff was told to use language like "science in consideration with community standards and wishes," in lieu of "science-based."

In 2017, Department of Interior officials deleted sections of a letter detailing how President Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico would harm wildlife.

Government contractors erect a section of Pentagon-funded border wall along the Colorado River, September 10, 2019 in Yuma, Arizona. Matt York/AP

The letter came from scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service and was sent to the Customs and Border Protection.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the letter brought up scientifically valid concerns about the potential impact of the border wall on endangered species that live along the border.

The National Park Service also muzzled employees last year.

Amidst a US government shutdown in 2019, National Park

 Service locations remained closed. 

 Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty

The acting deputy director of the Park Service, David Vela, told workers last summer that they had to check in with their supervisors in the Capitol before commenting to other federal agencies on issues related to gas and oil drilling.

Critics of the memo said it was an effort to prevent park staff from voicing opposition to development and drilling on federal public lands.

Anthony Fauci, who the Trump administration barred from speaking freely, is a public-health hero. The disease expert guided the US through AIDS, Zika, and Ebola.

Aylin Woodward 

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious 

Diseases, speaking at a press conference about the coronavirus, 

February 26, 2020. Michael Brochstein / Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media 

via Getty Images


The Trump administration reportedly barred Anthony Fauci, a top US experts on infectious disease, from speaking publicly about the coronavirus outbreak without approval.

Some of Fauci's statements about the virus have been at odds with claims from President Trump.

US public-health experts are angry, and one said his silence "is a threat to public health and safety."

Fauci has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. He's tackled the AIDS, Zika, and Ebola epidemics

Anthony Fauci has guided the US through the AIDS, Zika, and Ebola epidemics.

He's been the director of the US' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, advising six presidents. George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.

Fauci is now helping to lead the response to the new coronavirus outbreak.

But the Trump administration has reportedly told Fauci and other top health officials "not to say anything else without clearance" from the White House, according to The New York Times. A NIAID spokesperson told Business Insider that "this is not true," however.

Fauci's comments about the coronavirus have contradicted Trump's several times. Whereas Trump said the US "will essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner," Fauci has estimated that we're between a year and a year-and-a-half away from a coronavirus vaccine. Trump also expressed optimism that COVID-19 — the disease the virus causes — will disappear, but Fauci has suggested the world is on the brink of a pandemic.


US health experts were angry about the White House's restrictions on Fauci's speech, the Times reported, given that the world is in the midst of one of the worst public-health crises in years.

"Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama trusted Tony Fauci to be their top adviser on infectious disease, and the nation's most trusted communicator to the public," Ronald Klain, who led the Obama administration's response to the 2014 Ebola crisis, tweeted on Thursday.

He added, "If Trump is changing that, it is a threat to public health and safety."

Here are some of Fauci's biggest accolades and achievements.



Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as an autoimmune-disease researcher after getting his doctorate from Cornell University.

Anthony Fauci attends the 21st International AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa, on July 19, 2016. Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty

He's spent more than half his life working in the public-health sector.

Fauci took over the top position at NIAID in 1984. The institute has an annual budget of nearly $6 billion and manages the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, measles, and tuberculosis in the US.

Anthony Fauci testifies about the US measles outbreak before a House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, February 3, 2015. Jim Bourg/Reuters

NIAID also supports research on autoimmune disorders like asthma and allergies and handles oversight of emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika.


When Fauci took over NIAID, the world was in the throes of the HIV/AIDS crisis. He was one of the leading architects of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program credited with saving millions of lives.

Barack Obama tours the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland with Anthony Fauci (middle), December 2, 2014. Larry Downing/Reuters

Fauci's research has been pivotal in understanding how HIV destroys the body's immune system. He played a critical role in developing treatments that enable HIV-positive people to live long and active lives.


George W. Bush awarded Fauci the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest honor given to a civilian — in 2008 because of his role in creating the PEPFAR program.

George W. Bush presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 19, 2008 to Anthony Fauci during ceremonies at the White House in Washington, DC. Karen Bleier/Getty

Fauci has also won the Presidential National Medal of Science and been given 45 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in the US and abroad.

He won the Robert Koch Gold Medallion, an international award for "accumulated excellence in biomedical research" in 2013.


President George H. W. Bush asked Fauci to be head of the NIH in 1989, but Fauci refused, saying that his work at NIAID was more important.

Anthony Fauci at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, November 22, 2016. Gershon Peaks/RVN/Reuters

As a researcher, Fauci has been the author, co-author, or editor of more than 1,300 scientific publications.

Fauci was the 41st-most cited researcher of all time based on Google Scholar citations, according to a 2019 analysis.

Anthony Fauci delivers remarks at the Economic Club of Washington, January 29, 2016. Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS

He ranks eighth out of more than 2.2 million immunology authors in terms of his citation counts in the last 40 years.


Fauci also worked on the response to the anthrax threat in the US following the September 11 attacks.

Anthony Fauci during a news conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC, January 28, 2020. Amanda Voisard/Reuters

After 9/11, the US prepared for a potential biological attack as deadly anthrax packages flooded the offices of government workers and members of the media. Fauci kickstarted a NIAID research program to work on treatments and vaccines for infectious agents that could be used by bioterrorists.


His expertise and experience were also critical during the Ebola outbreak between 2014 and 2016, and the Zika outbreak that started soon thereafter.

Anthony Fauci, right, testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the US government response to Ebola on November 12, 2014. Gary Cameron/Reuters

Fauci assisted with the creation of public policy around Ebola, and he worked to reassure Americans of their safety.

Ned Price, a top National Security Council aide under the Obama administration, tweeted Thursday: "During the Ebola outbreak, we couldn't get enough of NIH's Dr. Fauci because no one knew more or could deliver it with more authority or experience. Muzzling Dr. Fauci is an effort to muzzle fact and science when it's needed most."


Fauci told Smithsonian Magazine in 2016 that we've learned the same lesson during every infectious-disease outbreak: "You've got to be prepared. You have to have good surveillance. You have to have good diagnostics."

\Anthony Fauci speaks to the media about the Zika virus in Washington, August 11, 2016. Joshua Roberts/REUTERS

He added: "You have to be able to move quickly. And we've shown that when you do that, you get good results."

Fauci has approached the new coronavirus outbreak in the same way.

Fauci's work has saved the lives of millions of men, women, and children across the world, according to the American Academy of Achievement.


Anthony Fauci speaks about the public-health response to the outbreak of the coronavirus during a news conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington DC, January 28, 2020. Amanda Voisard/Reuters

The Academy cited Fauci's legacy of leadership in public health and research into HIV/AIDS therapies

The pope has joined forces with Microsoft and IBM to create a doctrine for ethical AI and facial recognition. Here's how the Vatican wants to shape AI.

Tyler Sonnemaker

Pope Francis has embraced technology but has also warned 

of consequences. ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images

The Vatican called for stronger regulation of the use of artificial intelligence in a plan announced on Friday, Reuters first reported.

The document also said AI tools should work fairly, transparently, reliably, and with respect for human life and the environment.

Microsoft and IBM joined Pope Francis in endorsing the document, according to Reuters.
This isn't the first time Francis has weighed in on the moral and ethical issues that come with new technologies.

Pope Francis wants to see facial recognition, artificial intelligence, and other powerful new technologies follow a doctrine of ethical and moral principles.

In a joint document made public on Friday, the pope, along with IBM and Microsoft, laid out a vision that outlined principles for the emerging technologies and called for new regulations, Reuters first reported.

The Vatican's "Rome Call for AI Ethics" said that AI tools should be built "with a focus not on technology, but rather for the good of humanity and of the environment" and consider the "needs of those who are most vulnerable."

The "algor-ethics" outlined in the document included transparency, inclusion, responsibility, impartiality, reliability, security, and privacy, alluding to debates that have emerged around topics like algorithmic bias and data privacy.

Along those lines, it called for new regulations around "advanced technologies that have a higher risk of impacting human rights, such as facial recognition." Facial-recognition technology in particular has sparked concerns in recent years, thanks to research showing its problems with racial bias and the lack of transparency from companies that develop it.


The document, which was endorsed by Microsoft and IBM, is not the first time Francis has weighed in on ethical issues surrounding technology. At a Vatican conference in September, the pontiff warned that technological progress, if not kept in check, could lead society to "an unfortunate regression to a form of barbarism."

Others, both within and outside the tech community, have rolled out plans to address the side effects of AI. In January, the Trump administration unveiled a binding set of rules that federal agencies must follow when designing AI policies, while the European Union announced its own nonbinding principles in April.

Various people and organizations within the tech industry have spoken out about regulating AI, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, as well as AI ethics groups like AI Now and OpenAI.

Bill Gates says the coronavirus is a pandemic and a 'once-in-a-century pathogen.' Here are the solutions he's proposing to fight it.
"COVID-19 has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we've been worried about," Gates wrote in a new op-ed.

Bill Gates. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Bill Gates has warned for years that pandemics are a major international threat.
In a new op-ed, he outlines solutions for the coronavirus outbreak that has spread to at least 56 countries.

Gates referred to the outbreak as a pandemic, though the World Health Organization has so far shied away from that declaration.

The coronavirus, Gates wrote, is behaving like a "once-in-a-century pathogen."



Bill Gates has warned for years that the world is not ready for a deadly pandemic.

Some of his ominous predictions are now playing out as the coronavirus spreads around the globe. The virus causes a disease known as COVID-19 and has killed almost 2,900 people and infected more than 83,000 others globally since December. The vast majority of cases and deaths have been in China.

"In the past week, COVID-19 has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we've been worried about," Gates wrote in an op-ed for the New England Journal of Medicine. "I hope it's not that bad, but we should assume it will be until we know otherwise."

Gates referred to the outbreak as a pandemic, even though the World Health Organization has not yet made that declaration. The group has said instead that the virus has "pandemic potential."

"In any crisis, leaders have two equally important responsibilities: solve the immediate problem and keep it from happening again," Gates wrote. "The COVID-19 pandemic is a case in point. We need to save lives."

In the op-ed, Gates suggested the following solutions that could slow the virus' spread:
Wealthy countries should supply low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Southern Asia with trained healthcare workers to monitor the virus' spread and deliver vaccines.
Establish an international database where countries can share information.
Develop a system that screens for compounds that have already been safety-tested to use in a vaccine.

Governments and donors should fund manufacturing facilities that can pump out vaccines within weeks.

Gates compared COVID-19 to the 1957 flu pandemic, which killed more than 1 million people, and the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed 50 million people. The current outbreak, he wrote, is somewhere in between. 

Gates said everyone should have access to an affordable vaccine

Gates predicted that large-scale trials for a coronavirus vaccine could happen as early as June. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Health's infectious-disease center, recently said that he hoped to start testing vaccine candidates in people by mid-April.

Associated Press

However, drug development is typically a multiyear process that can cost about $1 billion in the US. Gates said making vaccines affordable for everyone was the "right strategy" for containing the coronavirus outbreak.


"Given the economic pain that an epidemic can impose — we're already seeing how COVID-19 can disrupt supply chains and stock markets, not to mention people's lives — it will be a bargain," he wrote.

On Wednesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declined to promise that a future coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for all Americans. But he backtracked day later, saying that any vaccine developed in conjunction with the US government would need to be financially accessible to the public.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has already contributed $100 million toward the fight to contain the outbreak. In his op-ed, Gates said warding off a pandemic would require billions of dollars.

"There is no time to waste," he wrote.

Though China has seen a drop-off in its rate of new cases in recent days, the coronavirus has spread to at least 55 other countries. At least 72 people have died outside mainland China.

EXCERPT
A Business Insider investigation into the Facebook CEO's secretive family office has uncovered a workplace in crisis over the family's handling of allegations of sexual harassment, racism, and transphobia.

Some workers say they have lost faith in the organization's capacity to fairly investigate and resolve disputes. The turmoil offers a rare glimpse inside the ultrasecretive world of billionaire family offices.

A representative for Zuckerberg described Business Insider's reporting as "a collection of unfounded rumors, exaggerations, and half-truths which unfairly malign several of our valued employees."

Zuckerberg's property empire, from Montana to Hawaii

Since dropping out of Harvard University in 2005 and moving across the country to build Facebook, Zuckerberg has amassed a growing property empire.

He has a 5,000-square-foot home in Palo Alto, which he bought in 2011 for $7 million (as well as several surrounding houses that he bought for an additional $30 million over the next few years). There's a 5,500-square-foot townhouse in San Francisco, for which he paid $10 million in 2013.

In 2018, he bought up two lakeshore properties at Lake Tahoe, California, for a combined $59 million. He has also quietly bought multiple properties at the elite Yellowstone Club ski resort in Montana, sources say.

And then there's Hawaii.

Many of the ultrawealthy in tech, including Marc Benioff, Paul Allen, and Peter Thiel, have acquired expansive estates on the island chain, and in 2014 Zuckerberg joined the club. He spent a reported $100 million on a vast, 700-acre ranch on the northeast corner of Kauai.

It is an expansive property, with cows and horses grazing its pastures, a petting zoo for the family, and space for Zuckerberg to hunt feral pigs with bow and arrow. The public beach that runs along its northern edge is a popular spot with local nudists and basking endangered Hawaiian monk seals alike, while humpback whales breach off-shore and albatrosses wheel overhead.

The purchase has proved intensely controversial, sparking numerous clashes with locals.

The Facebook founder has found himself in multiple land disputes

Under Hawaiian law, ancestral claims to land can often result in the title to a given plot of land having dozens of potential claimants. In an attempt to consolidate his ownership over the property, Zuckerberg's lawyers filed lawsuits — known as "quiet title" actions — that sought to establish sole ownership over his parcels and dispossess any indigenous Hawaiians of residual family interests they may have had in the ranch. The suits prompted allegations of "neocolonialism."

Zuckerberg backed down on the claims, though many on the island suspect that he continued to quietly bankroll a retired Hawaiian professor, Carlos Andrade, who continued legal proceedings in an attempt to secure control of some of the parcels. An attorney for Andrade did not respond to a request for comment.

Zuckerberg did not invent the "quiet title" land process, and he's hardly the first billionaire to buy property on the paradisaical Pacific island. But his global name recognition turned local Hawaiian land disputes into international headlines, transforming him into a focal point for local activists' and Hawaiian nationalists' anger.

Locals also accuse Zuckerberg of erecting a six-foot wall along part of the ranch's perimeter that blocks ocean breezes, and say his security team restricts access to the historic Ala Loa public trail that rings the island. (The exact path of the trail is disputed, and the family-office spokesperson referred Business Insider to an interview in which one local trail expert said "the research that we did indicated that the trail was not along the coast but further [inland].")

Randy Naukana Rego, a Fremont, California-born Hawaiian musician who lives in Kauai and has the right under state law to visit ancestral burial grounds on the Zuckerberg ranch, called the Facebook CEO "another rich guy who sues Hawaiian families and controls large amounts of land because he can."

"He does more good than harm," said a bartender at The Bistro, a restaurant and bar in the relaxed town of Kilauea, citing Zuckerberg's donations to local charities and employment of local residents. "A lot of people like to bitch about rich people." Zuckerberg went to The Bistro a few months after buying his Kauai property, he added, but was refused service because he didn't have his ID and the bartender working at the time didn't recognise him.

South Korea reported a record 800 new cases of coronavirus in a single day — and the vast majority are linked to a religious cult

• South Korea reported 813 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday — a record for the country.
• The new figures bring South Korea's infected total up to 3,150 — the highest number outside of China.
• Vice health minister Kim Kang-lip told a briefing that it was a "critical moment" in the country's COVID-19 crisis.
• 6;57 of the new cases were from Daegu city — home to the fringe Christian church at the heart of South Korea's coronavirus outbreak.

Today in History: February 29
46 B.C.: Calculation of Feb. 29 as a leap day

Roman emperor Julius Caesar decreed that a year should have 365.25 days, which would automatically add a day to every fourth year. This resulted in the addition of a 29th day to February every fourth year. Yet the system remained imperfect due to discrepancy with the solar year. Centuries later, this was solved by Pope Gregory XIII, who fine-tuned the calendar. He adopted a series of time-warp techniques, which eventually led to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582.


Genoese navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506) frightens the Carib natives into assisting him by predicting an eclipse of the moon, a god of theirs, Jamaica, February 29, 1504.  (Image by Frederic Lewis/Getty Images)

29th of February 1692: First arrest warrants are issued for witchcraft
The First arrest warrants were issued against three women named - Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne for practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.


29th February 1704, After the massacre in Deerfield, Massachusetts, Indians paddle towards camp with two prisoners. At the massacre, French soldiers and Abenaki and Caughnawaga Indians attacked the settlement killing about fifty people and taking over a hundred prisoners.

Deerfield, a settlement in western Massachusetts was attacked by Native American and French forces. The forces burned the town and massacred almost 100 people, marking it as the cruelest raid of Queen Anne's War.  (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

February 29, 1940: The first African-American to win an Oscar

Hattie McDaniel won the best supporting actress for her role as Mammy in ‘Gone with the Wind,' at the 12th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. This marked her as the first African American actor to be honored with an Oscar.

JUST LIKE BERNIE

29, FEBRUARY 1956: President Eisenhower announces to seek second term

President Dwight Eisenhower announced that he would run for re-election. Earlier, his cardiologist had announced that the President was capable of serving a second term as President suffered a major heart attack back in September 1955.

© AP Photo

February 29, 1960: First Playboy Club opens in Chicago

Hugh Hefner opened the world’s first Playboy club with 'bunnies' as waitresses in Chicago.

THE REAL MAJESTIC PROJECT AT  AREA 51

Feb 29, 1964: Announcement of secretly developed jet fighter

During a press conference in Washington, D.C., President Lyndon B. Johnson disclosed the existence of the Lockheed YF-12 – a secretly developed jet interceptor capable of cruising at an altitude of 80,000 feet (24,385 meters) with a speed of 2,000 mph (3,220 kph). Johnson deliberately misidentified the aircraft as A-12 at the request of aeronautical engineer Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson. Though three prototypes were built, the YF-12, which was an armed variant of the A-12 reconnaissance aircraft, never entered service.

THE NEWARK & DETROIT GHETTO RIOTS 1967 

Feb 29, 1968: Kerner Commission report is released

The President's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders kown as the Kerner Commission, released its report and warned that racism was the primary cause of riots surge in the country. The 11-member commission, headed by Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois was appointed by President Lyndon B Johnson in July 1967.

February 29,1972: Hank Aaron becomes MLB's highest paid player

Hank Aaron signed a three-year deal of $200,000 per year with the Atlanta Braves, 

marking him as the highest paid player in Major League Baseball at that time. 

February 29,1984: Trudeau resigns as Canada's PM

After serving for more than 15 years as Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau announced his resignation.

February, 29, 2004: 'Lord of the Rings: Return of the King' wins 11 Oscars
'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' won 11 Oscars, it swept all categories in which it was nominated, including best picture and best director for Peter Jackson. The film tied the record with 1959’s 'Ben Hur' and 1997’s 'Titanic', which are the most rewarded films in Oscar history.

On This Day: Hattie McDaniel becomes first black actor to win Oscar 

On Feb. 29, 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award -- for her role in "Gone With the Wind."

ByUPI Staff


Stamps and memorabilia are for sale at the dedication of a new 39-cent commemorative stamp honoring actress Hattie McDaniel held at the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills, Calif., on January 25, 2006. On February 29, 1940, McDaniel became the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award -- for her role in Gone With the Wind. The movie won eight awards that night. File Photo by Phil McCarten/UPI | License Photo


Feb. 28 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1704, in the bloodiest event of the so-called Queen Anne's War, Deerfield, a frontier settlement in western Massachusetts, was attacked by a French and indian force. Some 100 men, women and children were massacred as the town was burned to the ground.

In 1868, British statesman Benjamin Disraeli became prime minister for the first time.

In 1916, during World War I, German U-boat commanders were ordered to attack merchant shipping in the Atlantic without warning, a policy that killed thousands and helped draw the United States into the war.

In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American actor to win an Academy Award -- for her role in Gone With the Wind. The movie won eight awards that night.

In 1956, almost nine years after becoming an independent nation, Pakistan declared itself an Islamic republic.

In 1968, the President's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders condemned racism as the primary cause of the recent surge of riots. The commission said in its Feb. 29, 1968, report that "our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal."

In 1968, British astronomer Jocelyn Burnell announced the discovery of a pulsating radio source, or "pulsar," in the depths of outer space. She first dubbed it "LGM," short for "little green men." Astrophysicists say pulsars to be rapidly rotating neutron stars.

In 1988, police arrested Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu as he and others marched on Parliament to protest the government's ban on anti-apartheid activities.

In 2004, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and fled the country as rebel forces massed on the outskirts of the capital. U.S. President George Bush ordered Marines into Haiti after the ouster.

File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI


In 2004, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the finale of the epic fantasy trilogy, won all 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including best picture and director, a record sweep.

In 2012, the Syrian Army drove insurgents from the Free Syrian Army out of the Bab Amr neighborhood in the city of Homs. Thousands of innocent civilians have died in the past 11 months in the government's crackdown on opposition activists, the United Nations said.

In 2016, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., became the first sitting senator to endorse Donald Trump as president. Trump rewarded Sessions with the Cabinet position of attorney general after he was elected.


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UPI Archives: Hattie McDaniel honored with postage stamp

UPI Archives: Festival to honor Hattie McDaniel

The American Workplace Isn’t Ready for an Epidemic

Amanda Mull
© Getty / Robert Nickelsberg

As the coronavirus that has sickened tens of thousands in China spreads worldwide, it now seems like a virtual inevitability that millions of Americans are going to be infected with the flu-like illness known as COVID-19. Public health officials in the United States have started preparing for what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling a “significant disruption” to daily life. Because more than 80 percent of cases are mild and many will show no symptoms at all, limiting the disease’s spread rests on the basics of prevention: wash your hands well and frequently, cover your mouth when you cough, and stay home if you feel ill. But that last thing might prove among the biggest Achilles heels in efforts to stymie the spread of COVID-19: the culture of the American workplace puts everyone’s health at unnecessary risk.

For all but the independently wealthy in America, the best-case scenario for getting sick is being a person with good health insurance, paid time off, and a reasonable boss who won’t penalize you for taking a few sick days or working from home. For millions of the country’s workers, such a scenario is a near-inconceivable luxury. “With more than a third of Americans in jobs that offer no sick leave at all, many unfortunately cannot afford to take any days off when they are feeling sick,” Robyn Gershon, an epidemiology professor at the NYU School of Global Public Health, writes in an email. “People who do not (or cannot) stay home when ill do present a risk to others.” On this count, the United States is a global anomaly, one of only a handful of countries that doesn’t guarantee its workers paid leave of any kind. These jobs are also the kind least likely to supply workers with health insurance, making it difficult for millions of people to get medical proof they can’t go to work.

They’re also concentrated in the service industry or gig economy, in which workers have contact, directly or indirectly, with large numbers of people. These are the workers who are stocking the shelves of America’s stores, preparing and serving food in its restaurants, driving its Ubers, and manning its checkout counters. Their jobs often fall outside the bounds of paid-leave laws even in states or cities that have them. Gershon emphasizes that having what feels like a head cold or mild flu—which COVID-19 will feel like to most healthy people—often isn’t considered a good reason to miss a shift by those who hold these workers’ livelihoods in their hands.

Even if a person in one of these jobs is severely ill—coughing, sneezing, blowing their nose, and propelling droplets of virus-containing bodily fluids into the air and onto the surfaces around them—asking for time off means missing an hourly wage that might be necessary to pay rent or buy groceries. And even asking can be a risk when inconveniencing the higher-ups in jobs with few labor protections because in many states, there’s nothing to stop a company from firing you for being too much trouble. So workers with no good options end up going into work, interacting with customers, swiping the debit cards that go back into their wallets, making the sandwiches they eat for lunch, unpacking the boxes of cereal they take home for their kids, or driving them home from happy hour.

Even for people who have paid sick leave, Gershon notes that their choices are often only marginally better; seven days of sick leave is the American average, but often people get as few as three or four. “Many are hesitant to use [sick days] for something they think is minor just in case they need the days later for something serious,” she writes. “Parents or other caregivers are also hesitant to use them because their loved ones might need them to stay home and care for them if they become ill.”

In jobs where having enough sick leave isn’t a problem, getting it approved might be. America’s office culture often rewards those who appear to go above and beyond, even if it requires coughing on an endless stream of people to get to and stay at work. Some managers believe leadership means forcing their employees into the office at all costs, or at least making it clear that taking a sick day or working from home will be met with suspicion or contempt. Other times, employees bring their bug to work of their own volition, brown-nosing at the expense of their coworkers’ health.

Either way, the result is the same, especially in businesses that serve the public or offices with open plans and lots of communal spaces, which combine to form the majority of American workplaces. Even if your server at dinner isn’t sick, she might share a touch-screen workstation with a server who is. Everyone on your side of the office might be hale and healthy, but you might use a tiny phone booth to take a call after someone whose throat is starting to feel a little sore. “Doorknobs, coffee makers, toilets, common-use refrigerators, sinks, phones, keyboards [can all] be a source of transmission if contaminated with the agent,” writes Gershon. She advises that workers stay at least three to six feet away from anyone coughing or sneezing, but in office layouts that put desks directly next to each other with no partition in between—often to save money by giving workers less personal space—that can be impossible. No one knows how long COVID-19 can live on a dry surface, but in the case of SARS, another novel coronavirus, Gershon says it was found to survive up to a week on inanimate objects.

Work culture isn’t the only structure of American life that might make a COVID-19 outbreak worse than it has to be—the inaccessible, precarious, unpredictable nature of the country’s healthcare system could also play an important role, if an epidemic comes to pass. But tasking the workers who make up so much of the infrastructure of daily American life, often for low wages and with few resources, with the lion’s share of prevention in an effort to save thousands of lives, is bound to fail, maybe spectacularly. It will certainly exact a cost on them, both mentally and physically, that the country has given them no way to bear.