BERLIN — Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates expects a coronavirus vaccine to get regulatory approval by early next year.

In a series of interviews with German media published Tuesday, the Microsoft co-founder suggested several vaccines might be available in 2021, but cautioned that the pandemic may not be over until 2022.

Gates, whose foundation supports vaccine development efforts, told the weekly Der Spiegel that he sees a slim chance that drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna might get enough data by the end of October to apply for emergency approval for their COVID-19 vaccines.

But he expressed confidence that of the vaccines being developed by the two companies and rivals AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax and Sanofi, “three or four” would get emergency regulatory approval by the beginning of 2021.