3 COVID-19 breakthroughs Bill Gates says 'will make 2021 better than 2020'

A pessimist would say next year will be better than this year because it can't get much worse, with more than 1.6 million people dead from COVID-19, millions out of work and school, devastating wildfires, and political unrest.

But billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, a perpetual optimist, says next year will be better than this year because 2020 has bred some astounding scientific breakthroughs.

"When I think back on the pace of scientific advances in 2020, I am stunned," the Microsoft founder wrote in his latest blog post, published Tuesday. The annual post reflects on the unprecedented challenges of the past twelve months, and offers insight into what lies ahead.
"Humans have never made more progress on any disease in a year than the world did on COVID-19 this year," he continued. "Under normal circumstances, creating a vaccine can take 10 years. This time, multiple vaccines were created in less than one year."

Here's some of what else Gates said will set us up for more success come 2021.

Because two vaccines work, more are likely to work as well
Both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines have been shown to be safe and highly effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19. Because they work by targeting the coronavirus's spike protein, one of its defining components, vaccines in development that do the same are likely to work as well, Gates wrote.