Trump Asked Bill Gates
to Be His Whitehouse Science Advisor
Bill Gates got President Trump fired up
about a universal flu vaccine
— and also (maybe) got a job offer
Bill Gates was talking to
President Trump in the Oval Office last month when the
conversation turned to the notion of a universal flu vaccine
— probably, as Gates recalled in an interview, “the longest
conversation about universal flu vaccine that the president’s
ever had.”
“You should associate yourself with American
innovation. Wouldn’t you love to have the universal flu
vaccine be something that really got kicked off and
energized by you?” Gates recalled asking Trump.
The idea fired up the president, who Gates described as
“super interested.” In a matter of moments, Trump had
Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug
Administration, on speakerphone, asking him about a vaccine that
could generate lasting protection against a range of seasonal
and animal flu viruses with pandemic potential.
“Hey, Gates says
there’s a universal flu vaccine. Is that crazy?” the
philanthropist, bemused, recalled the president asking.
Gates said Gottlieb confessed that while he’d heard there was
some good work underway, he wasn’t an expert and would need to
look into it. (Gottlieb confirmed that the call took place, but
declined to discuss the conversation.)
The flu vaccine discussion. An unexpected job
offer from Trump.