There are many big-time philanthropists in the U.S., but the biggest is none other than Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft. He and his wife, Melinda, started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which, among other things, spends approximately $800 million a year on medical research. In January 2010, the foundation pledged $10 billion towards vaccine research over the next ten years in an effort to vaccinate 90% of the un-vaccinated children in Third World countries. Melinda Gates estimates that the research will help save 8 million children’s lives over the next decade. The $10 billion dollars is a substantial increase over the $4.5 billion (approximately) that the charity allocated towards vaccine research in the previous decade.

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