Bill Gates had previously said a coronavirus vaccine could be developed in 18 months.

The Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates told "The Daily Show" on Thursday that his foundation was funding the construction of factories for seven coronavirus vaccine candidates.

Gates said the foundation would end up picking only one or two of the seven, meaning billions of dollars spent on manufacturing would be abandoned.

He said that in a situation where the world faces the loss of trillions of dollars to the economy, wasting a few billion to help is worth it.

Bill Gates had previously said a coronavirus vaccine could be developed in 18 months.

The Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates told "The Daily Show" on Thursday that his foundation was funding the construction of factories for seven coronavirus vaccine candidates.

Gates said the foundation would end up picking only one or two of the seven, meaning billions of dollars spent on manufacturing would be abandoned.

He said that in a situation where the world faces the loss of trillions of dollars to the economy, wasting a few billion to help is worth it.