If funding from the Gates Foundation is having the perverse effect of allowing them to ignore scientific criticism, it also sounds like an interesting case study in charitable spending/inventives gone wrong.

On the bright side, IHME isn't our only or even our main source of pandemic predictions. The CDC tracks numerous covid prediction projects (although the CDC has generally done badly too, and is definitely not going to be winning any forecasting awards). In recognition of these failures, the CDC is creating a new forecasting center staffed by what seems like a promising crew -- they will be led by Marc Lipsitch, a Harvard professor who has given talks at EA events and (IMO) offers very intelligent covid-19 commentary on twitter. https://fortune.com/2021/08/18/cdc-center-forecasting-and-outbreak-analytics-public-health/

Overall, forecasting and data gathering is one of the few aspects of pandemic response where I'm optimistic that we've learned our lesson and will do better next time.