WATCH: Bill Gates Says FDA and CDC Have ‘Lost a Lot of Credibility,’ Questions Whether They Can Be Trusted to Approve a Safe Vaccine

Bill Gates is questioning whether the FDA and CDC can be trusted to approve a safe coronavirus vaccine.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the Microsoft co-founder trashed the two government agencies who will ultimately be charged with approving any Covid-19 vaccine. Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker — referencing President Donald Trump desire to have a vaccine out before election day — asked Gates how worried he is about the approval process being “hijacked by politics.”

“That would be a tragedy,” Gates said. “And any suggestion that a politician helped create the vaccine, or it’s faster because of a politician, is a very dangerous thing. We saw with the completely bungled plasma statements that when you start pressuring people to say optimistic things, they go completely off the rails. The FDA lost a lot of credibility there.”

He added, “Historically, just like the CDC was viewed as the best in the world, the FDA had that same reputation as a top-notch regulator. But there’s been some cracks with some of the things they’ve said at the commissioner level.”

The billionaire extended the same criticisms to the CDC, which he said is “largely being written out of the picture” because people who work for the CDC — who, Gates noted, are not epidemiologists — have praised the White House’s Covid-19 response.

Gates expressed confidence that the drug companies themselves will exercise caution, and not rush out a vaccine — following their joint pledge on Sept. 8.

“Thank goodness that we have this private sector expertise, that we want to shape into a global public good, that gets to everybody on the planet,” he said.

Watch above, via Bloomberg.