Bill Gates, Rashida Jones interview Fauci for new podcast

First episode of show is titled, 'What will the world look like after COVID-19?'

Bill Gates and actor Rashida Jones kicked off a new limited podcast series on Monday and their guest is National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, who will be discussing the coronavirus pandemic.

“Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions” features the Microsoft co-founder and actor/activist navigating complex topics with the aim of making it accessible to average listeners.

FILE: Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, listens during a Senate Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Hearing on the federal government res (Pool via AP)

The first episode, titled “What will the world look like after COVID-19?”, aimed to answer the question: What does going back to normal mean after such a history-changing event?

The show’s debut on Monday coincides with the announcement of a second experimental COVID-19 vaccine yielding strong early results amid the pandemic entering a terrible phase.

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Moderna Inc., the company responsible for the vaccine, said appears to be 94.5% effective, according to preliminary data from an ongoing study. A week before, competitor Pfizer Inc. announced its own vaccine appeared to be 90% effective.

Despite the news, Fauci said on the podcast that the United States is “not in a good place” regarding the public’s trust of vaccines because there is a “baseline level of anti-vaccination that goes back before COVID-19.”

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He reiterated that safety measures like avoiding large crowds, washing your hands, and wearing masks remain effective ways to combat the spread of the virus.

Asked to give some advice to Americans who are weary of the ongoing pandemic, Fauci said: “Don’t give up. This is going to end. Science is going to help us.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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