Who is Bill Gates?
Bill Gates is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of the Microsoft Corporation. This technology company has created various software products (most notable the Windows operating system) and has subsequently remained one of the most valued companies in the world (currently
the most valuable, overtaking Apple in 2018
[ref]). Microsoft is valued at over $1 trillion since 2019
[ref].
With a net worth of $105+ billion
[ref], Bill Gates is the second richest man in the world behind only Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder and CEO)
[ref]. There were only four years between 1995 and 2017 where Bill was not the richest person on the planet.
Bill Gates largely stepped down from his Microsoft duties in 2008 to devote more time to the private charity he has set up with his wife. It's called the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Their goals are to improve global healthcare and reduce poverty. This is reportedly the world’s largest private charity
[ref].
What is the Theory?
There are assorted dots scattered throughout this narrative. Conspiracy theorists tend to believe in different degrees and combinations of these points, but in one general string, it looks something like this:
Bill Gates may have invented COVID-19 himself or at least perpetuated the spread. He has done so to force the world to require a mandatory vaccine otherwise we'll never get back to normal life. This would not only skyrocket Bill Gates’ wealth due to his patent ownership but would also allow him to slip a microchip into every human being, tracking everyone, everywhere, at all times. All of which may be part of a Satanic plot to overthrow Donald Trump, possibly because Gates is part of a paedophile ring. I'll explain everything.
Where Do We Even Begin?
There are three distinct conspiracy timelines which have met up to create this mecha-theory, essentially the culmination of long-speculated anxieties coming to a climax right here. These are anti-vaccinations, microchip implants, and a general distrust for Bill Gates himself.
We will look at each of these separately.
What's the Anti-Vaccination Movement?
The anti-vaxxer (or vaccine hesitancy) community has existed for centuries, initially rooted in religion. In 1772, Reverend Edmund Massey famously dubbed inoculations against smallpox as the work of the devil
[ref]. Over time, these arguments against vaccinations have evolved across a wide spectrum. They range from an understandable lack of confidence over the safety of a vaccine’s contents, all the way to linking autism to said vaccinations (a theory which has since been debunked a thousand times over
[ref][ref][ref]).
In 2019, The World Health Organization called the vaccine hesitancy movement one of the biggest health threats in the world
[ref] due to the outbreaks which have resulted from reduced immunities. This includes the 2004 reappearance of polio in Nigeria
[ref]. There has also been a 30% global rise of measle cases/deaths
[ref][ref], for example, 600 in Nigeria (Jan - March 2005)
[ref] and 83 over the last year in Samoa
[ref].
As it stands, the scientific consensus is that vaccines are safe due to the immense safety standards required from a medicine that is administered to millions of humans
[ref]. However, people like Heidi J. Larson from WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts takes some of the blame, stating
“We've invested in more and more vaccines and much less in bringing the public along with us. We need to pay attention to the public and listen to their concerns much earlier on.”[ref]
When it comes to corona, the war between the anti-vaxxers and the vaccination is nothing but loud words at this point. However, it will continuously gain momentum as we approach the inoculation date.
Microchip Implants: What Are the Concerns?
The long history of VeriChip human implants would take too much time to document but it truly became newsworthy in 2004 when the practice was legally approved by The Food and Drug Administration
[ref]. Its current and
potential functions include storing identity and medical information, monitoring diseases, tracking criminals, and replacing bank cards. Since then, places like the Epicenter in Stockholm
[ref], City Watcher in Cincinnati
[ref] and the Baja Beach club in Rotterdam
[ref] have experimented with the microchip for allowing personal access into secure or VIP areas. It’s worth noting that, at this time, there are no reported GPS implants available due to issues like device size and battery life
[ref][ref].
Questions quickly arose about this irremovable mechanism and its effects on our freedom. The American Medical Association published a report in 2007
[ref] which queried privacy issues. Security researcher Jonathan Westhues demonstrated how easy it was to clone such microchips simply by standing next to their person
[ref] in 2006.
The Bill Gates story is not the first time the conspiracy mill has spun about microchipping. Back in 2013, an email chain claimed Obamacare was looking to implant every US citizen by 2014 based on the
H.R.3590 – Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act[ref]. No such wording existed but this did not stop the rumour from updating the deadline every year that passed
[ref].
Also in 2014, an almost identical hoax cropped up about the Ebola vaccine
[ref][ref] as well as one stating that all EU newborns were set to be chipped
[ref]. Perhaps unsurprisingly, no reliable documentation can back up these claims.
As it stands, involuntary microchip implants are illegal in the American states of Arkansas, California, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wisconsin
[ref][ref] and similar such laws continue to spread quickly. Consent is also required in the UK
[ref]. As these notions are fairly new, many nations are yet to establish their laws. Nevertheless, it feels reasonable to suggest that any free country will view forced/undisclosed microchipping as a conflict of basic human rights.
Microchip Implants: The Mark of the Beast?
Much like any good story, we also have a birthplace in the Bible. More specifically, the
Book of Revelation, the Bible's final book which deals with the end of the world and the second coming of Christ.
Look at
Revelation 13:15–18 which states:
15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.[ref]
The Biblical/microchipping connection was made shortly after FDA approval.
The Resistance Manifesto in 2005 by Christian conspiracy activist Mark Dice stands as one of the earliest published examples
[ref][ref]. Ignoring the controversial author’s racist sexist homophobic
[ref][ref][ref] tendencies, he did note some very interesting points with those Revelation lines, such as
“rich and poor” (every class getting vaccinated),
“receive a mark in their right hand” (an often proposed positioning of the microchipping), and that
“no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark” (becoming a cashless society where only chips are accepted).
The cashless society branch leads into another recent theory by Oscar-winning Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov
[ref] who called attention to a 2020 Microsoft patent. This document registers the idea that a person could earn cryptocurrency by performing certain activities
[ref]. It makes no mention of microchips but who is to say? And what really tickled Mikhalkov’s imagination was the patent’s publication number:
060606[ref]. Three sixes! The number of the beast!
Which is to say that if Bill Gates delivers the microchip then he is surely fulfilling the prophecy of the Antichrist, sending whoever accepts the mark to Hell then ushering in the return of Jesus. Could be fun.
Can We Trust Bill Gates?
Bill Gates isn't exactly the poster child for trustworthiness. Most of this stems from criticisms against Microsoft’s business practices including overworking employees
[ref] and questionable advertising techniques
[ref][ref].
More to the topic, Microsoft and Gates have also come under fire for privacy issues. A leaked NSA document named Microsoft (and many other company giants) as providing non-US citizen data to the American government
[ref][ref] which they have denied
[ref]. The EU has had some particular concerns about data collections
[ref][ref].
Furthermore, there are allegations of monopolising the PC market which has regularly found Microsoft in court. In 2001, there was the
United States v. Microsoft Corporation case which accused the company of restricting users from installing competitive software. This was settled with Microsoft opening access to much of its code for third-parties
[ref]. In 2007, the EU called for
Microsoft Corp. v. Commission, claiming that Microsoft was blocking its competitors unlawfully. The courts agreed, smashing the company with a €497 million fine, the largest the EU had ever seen at the time
[ref]. There are many more examples just like this
[ref].
Such dubious undertakings are essential roots that feed into the theories. This is due to similar concerns between privacy/tracking microchips as well as Gates’ so-called monopolisation of the medical industry, which we will look at in greater detail later. Many hypothesise that the establishment of the Gates Foundation was merely to transform his public image into someone more likeable, giving him additional leeway for his future projects
[ref][ref]. Meanwhile, Gates credits a reading list from Dr. Bill Foege for his interest in global health
[ref].
There is already a mistrust for high up figures amongst those who swear by a New World Order social hierarchy, so when one of the richest men in the world has further muddied his name with the previous wrongdoings, then the crosshairs of conspiracy suspicions grow even larger. Hence why COVID-19 is not the first time Bill Gates has come under very similar allegations and, depending on the corona outcome, won’t be the last.
What's the Theory with Bill Gates and the 2015 Zika Virus?
One of the best examples of how this is not Gates’ first conspiracy virus rodeo would be that of the Zika virus.
In early 2015, a Zika outbreak raced across Brazil with 205,578 cases reported in 2016
[ref]. This mosquito-spread disease is largely asymptomatic in an estimated 80% of infections and mildly feverish in the rest. However, it did cause severe birth defects
[ref]. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation responded by donating $750,000 to the CDC Foundation
[ref] and backed the Oxitec project of releasing bacteria-infected mosquitoes into Brazil, spreading their own disease throughout that insect subspecies and limiting their ability to pass Zika to humans
[ref].
That’s all the theorists needed and, led by conspiracy YouTuber VM Granmisterio
[ref], they concluded that Bill Gates and Oxitec had developed a bioweapon as part of an ethnic cleansing program, one which would also stop people from breeding under the fear of birth defects
[ref]. This was reportedly in hopes of reducing the Brazilian population, another component in this tale which we shall address shortly.
How Did Bill Gates Become the COVID Talking Point?
As if bringing anti-vaxxers, Christians, Bill Gates-haters and general conspiracy theorists onto the same playing field wasn’t enough to birth the ripest conspiracy case ever, Gates himself made three additional moves which threw a stronger brand of petrol onto the fire.
The first was that Gates has been warning about a virus outbreak since at least 2010
[ref]. Some argue that a man wanting to control the world with a pandemic wouldn’t pre-warn us of its arrival. Others say that’s exactly what he would do if he intended to prepare us mentally for his plans, pushing us to easier accept the process. More on this later.
The second move was where the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have committed at least $250 million
[ref] in the fight against COVID-19. This ties into the theory of virus research monopolisation, another topic we will discuss later down the line.
The third and final move happened on the 18th of March 2020. Here, Gates opened an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on the relevant subreddit
[ref], addressing any queries the public may have about, well, anything. When asked how to keep businesses functioning during times of social distancing, his response ended with:
“Eventually we will have some digital certificates to show who has recovered or been tested recently or when we have a vaccine who has received it.”[ref]
Which leads us to...
What Links This to Global Microchipping?
It took less than a day for the first article to expand this AMA response into the headline
“Bill Gates will use microchip implants to fight coronavirus”[ref]. According to this piece, the “digital certificates” Gates was referring to are known as “quantum-dot tattoos” where microchips would be implanted via dissolvable sugar-based microneedles developed in part with a project called ID2020. This would grant Bill Gates greater control over the world like a mad Bond villain.
If we follow that article’s own source links
[ref][ref] we quickly discover that no microchip implants are mentioned. Rather, “quantum-dot tattoos” are patches that stick invisible dye patterns under the skin that can be scanned to give digital information such as
“this person has been vaccinated”. These patterns reportedly last for five years and can be delivered with the vaccine on one patch. The technology was tested on rats and is yet to be used on humans. The MIT research for this was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Defenders point out that one cannot track your location using ink and that it simply functions like a modern update to the smallpox scar, a simple piece of
yes-or-no data, nothing else. Such a program would be additionally useful in developing countries where there is a severe lack of medical recording processes
[ref].
Although one could argue this is still the perfect avenue to slip a chip into someone without their knowledge.
Moving on to the aforementioned ID2020 company, and this is far more in tune with what an actual “digital certificate” is. Hint: it has nothing to do with quantum-dot tattoos or microchipping or even injections. This non-profit organisation has one goal: to provide identification for the billion+ people worldwide (such as those in developing countries or refugees) who have no form of identification. According to the ID2020 manifesto, individuals would have full control over their digital identities
[ref] which would be stored in a cloud environment using blockchain technology
[ref] for privacy reasons. The company is backed in part by Microsoft
[ref] but is not directly involved with Gates. It appears data would be collected using biometrics
[ref] such a fingerprints and iris scans. This notion is supported by ID2020’s partnership with Simprints
[ref] an open-source fingerprint system
[ref]. It is only fair to mention that Simprints was founded by students from the Gates-Cambridge Scholarships program who went on to win $210 million from the Gates Foundation in 2017
[ref].
Irrespective of the truth or lies, the once-obscure ID2020 is now on the map big time for all the wrong reasons, receiving such vicious threats from conspiracy theorists that they resorted to getting the FBI involved. This was reported by the New Humanitarian, which also receives funding from the Gates Foundation
[ref].
The final piece of this crazy collection comes with Bill Gates’ praise
[ref] towards South Korea’s corona testing procedure and its very successful decline of infections. When someone tests positive in that country, their movements are traced back using a combination of smartphones, credit card usage and CCTV footage
[ref]. This info is then released publicly for other citizens to assess their movements near exposures
[ref]. Once again, this brings Gates’ opinions of privacy into question, but it also makes the idea of implant tracking seem redundant. They can track you already if they so choose.
How Did These Theories Spread?
Various mid-to-high profile players have helped to escalate this information early on. They include Trump’s buddy and conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones (more on him later); conspiracy theorist YouTuber James Corbett
[ref] (more on him later), anti-vaccine nephew of JFK, Robert Kennedy Jr
[ref]; pro-Trump conservative political activist, Candace Owens (more on her later); White House correspondent for conservative website Newsmax, Emerald Robinson
[ref]; Italian politician and anti-vaxxer, Sara Cunial; Fox News host, Laura Ingraham
[ref]; osteopathic conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxier, Rashid Buttar
[ref]; and convicted political consultant, Roger Stone
[ref].
Additional props to Florida Pastor Adam Fannin who seems to be making some of the most interesting noise by mashing all of the notes together, including those parallels with the antichrist, microchipping, and depopulation
[ref]. His video is close to two million views as I type this
[ref]. Full disclosure that Adam Fannin owes much of his notoriety to that time he wished death upon comedian Sarah Silverman
[ref].
Combine the above clout with the flammable webs of conspiracy communities and we are now looking at 44% of Republicans who will refuse vaccinations under the belief that Bill Gates is trying to chip us (according to a Yahoo/YouGov poll
[ref]).
So... Did Bill Gates Engineer the Virus or What?
This theory is so wild that it is as difficult to disprove as it is to prove. The evidence trail is empty whichever way you look and it feels like the furthest leap one could make with their eyes closed.
Speculators claim that Gates knew about the coronavirus years beforehand because (1) he registered a coronavirus patent before the outbreak; and (2) he hosted a coronavirus simulation before the outbreak
[ref]. We will address both of these suggestions shortly.
The official cause of COVID-19 is currently unidentified but experts are relatively convinced that it started at the Chinese wet market in Wuhan known as Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. This is because several of the earliest patients had visited this area
[ref] which has been called “unsanitary” by Time magazine
[ref] due to its confined space shared with live and dead animals. The virus appears similar to those that originate in pangolin
[ref] and bats
[ref] (the latter of which is the more common conclusion). Of the 585 environmental samples collected from the market, 33 were found to have traces of the virus according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
[ref].
Did Bill Gates Know About COVID-19 Before It Happened?
Bill Gates has warned about a global pandemic for close to a decade now
[ref]. Arguably his most discussed commentary came with his 2015 TED Talk titled
“The next outbreak? We’re not ready”[ref].
Gates' supporters use this as evidence against the conspiracies, asking why a man would prewarn us if he intended to inflict a virus on society. The anti-Gates crowd argue that he was softening us to the idea, allowing him to proceed with his plans under the guise of a hero. Both debates have merit but, in truth, Gates was not the first to predict an outbreak in any fashion.
A year before that TED Talk, then-President Obama warned about the lack of preparation we had against such a pademnic
[ref].
American molecular biologist, Joshua Lederberg, was quoted saying
“The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus” in 1988
[ref]. This was used to open the 1995 film
Outbreak[ref] which dealt with similar scenarios.
In fact, Hollywood has been in tune with this idea for longer than any of us
[ref].
12 Monkeys (1995),
Contagion (2011), and just about every zombie flick ever made now seem so obvious in hindsight as cautionary tales about the devastating effects of viruses.
The Hot Zone miniseries about a deadly outbreak of Ebola was released mere months before the first documented case of COVID-19
[ref] and itself was based on the 1994 nonfiction book by Richard Preston
[ref]. David Quammen 2013 book
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic warned about wild animals passing destructive diseases to humans
[ref]. Laurie Garrett’s 1995 book
The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance warned about taking action to avoid further outbreaks
[ref]. The goal of the 2008
Pandemic board game is to stop diseases from wiping out regions
[ref].
Quick side note: rumours that Netflix’s 2020 documentary series
Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak was funded by Gates are wholly unfounded. That said, Gates did personally recommend the series on his blog
[ref].
The alarm bells about global viral infections have been going off for years. Bill Gates’ 2015 Ted Talk was speaking about a general epidemic based on the Ebola problem from one year previous, an outbreak his charity was heavily involved with, committing $50 million to the United Nations to help with supplies
[ref]. Furthermore, Bill Gates’ TED Talk predicted that the outbreak would start and spread through underdeveloped countries, which was not the case for corona
[ref]. In summary, there is no evidence backing that Bill Gates predicted COVID-19 specifically.
But What About the COVID-19 Patent Owned by Bill Gates?
What’s crucial to understand is that coronavirus is a collective term for a group of viruses known to cause disease in birds and mammals. The word “coronavirus” was first published in 1931
[ref]. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a coronavirus, and COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2.
A patent was filed for coronavirus (not COVID-19) in 2015 by the Pirbright Institute
[ref]. By reading this document, you will notice the term “avian infectious bronchitis virus” (IBV) crops up a lot. IBV is a weaker coronavirus that affects birds
[ref]. This patent was about using reverse genetics on an embryonated bird egg. But when you find out that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $5.5 million to the institute in 2019
[ref], then the flames rise (even though this happened long after the patent was registered).
Most likely due to these rumours, the Pirbright Institute has gone on record stating that they receive funds from many other sources and the Gates Foundation did not back that specific patent
[ref]. The online document itself even comes with a disclaimer at the top informing the public that this is not a COVID-19 nor even a human-related patent
[ref].
In conclusion: A scientific research company who owns a patent about a coronavirus that isn’t COVID-19 and primarily infects birds did receive money from Bill Gates’ charity after the fact. Less of a ring to it though, right?
Did Bill Gates Run a COVID-19 Simulation Before the Outbreak?
The more you research this conspiracy, the more the name Alex Jones keeps cropping up over and over again.
Alex Jones is the owner of the notorious conspiracy theorist website InfoWars
[ref]. For an interesting yet certainly one-sided view on the man, check out this video where Hilary Clinton used Jones’ relationship with Trump to assist her 2016 presidential campaign
[ref]. Regardless, it seems whichever corona direction you turn, this guy is ready to cash-in on the action, be it from encouraging crowds to chant
“arrest Bill Gates” at protests
[ref] while selling “coronavirus cures" such as gel and toothpaste (which the FDA have warned him to stop doing
[ref]).
Nevertheless, Jones’ crowning achievement was “exposing” a simulation that the Gates Foundation ran in October 2019 during what was known as Event 201
[ref]. In this tabletop exercise, participants worked to stop the spread of a hypothetical virus and ultimately ended with 65 million hypothetical people dead within 18 months.
This has worked as a strong component of the conspiracy theory. Part of the reason why is that Event 201 did happen just as described above
[ref] as a collaboration between The Gates Foundation and The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. We should note that Johns Hopkins University receives funding from the Gates Foundation
[ref].
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security responded to the allegations by once again highlighting the broadness of the “coronavirus” term whilst noting that there were severe differences between their fictional coronavirus and COVID-19
[ref][ref]. Furthermore, the Johns Hopkins Center has been running similar exercises for close to a decade now, for example, their 2001 and 2005 simulations hypothesising around a smallpox terrorism attack on the United States
[ref][ref].
Is Bill Gates a Satanic Paedophile?
For those who like their plots extra dank, here we are.
The rumours appear to have started with the far-right conspiracy theory group behind QAnon. Initiated by a single 4chan poster in 2017, their premise is that Donald Trump has saved the world from assorted Satanic paedophile leaders. This rabbit hole goes deep in the opposite direction, so I must leave you to look at that one yourself. Wikipedia’s article appears fairly thorough to me
[ref] as does this article in New York Magazine
[ref].
According to some of these threads, Bill Gates created the virus as a desperate move to finally stop Trump
[ref]. A lot of this cited evidence weighs upon the Pirbright patent we looked at earlier.
As for the “child sex slave ring,” these are not without some merit and are based on several suspicious factors. There were definite connections between Gates and infamous sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein
[ref]. Gates once flew on Epstein's plane from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach
[ref] (but never Epstein’s island, contrary to some reports). This has been proven with the release of an official flight manifesto
[ref].
Furthermore, an engineer working at Gate’s mansion named Rick Allen Jones was arrested for child pornography in 2014
[ref], a case which has appeared to vanish
[ref] leading theories of Gate’s involvement. I do not write this off but I also struggle to find any reputable information about Rick Allen Jones, not a photo nor any web presence whatsoever.
Another hugely incriminating headline reads
“Bill Gates Sued For Forcing Staff To Watch Child Rape And Murder”[ref] which is crazy misleading. This is about moderators doing their job by flagging inappropriate user-generated content. The filed complaint states that they did not receive adequate psychological support for the task at hand
[ref].
The “Satanic” aspect more than likely ties to the Antichrist parallels that we have also already covered above.
Is Bill Gates Monopolising the Health Industry?
Of all the weird and wonderful conspiracy points on our windy trail, very few stand the test as well as this suggestion.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation freely unloads stacks of cash in every medical direction. According to The Guardian, the foundation has granted $3 billion every year to the industry with a total of $32.9 billion by 2015
[ref]. This very article of mine has already mentioned many without even scratching the far-reaching surface.
It’s got to the point that you can click the investor/sponsorship button on just about any renowned health organisation's website, and you will likely read the foundation’s name there. You can find an extensive searchable database of these fundings on their website
[ref]. The list of recipients is understandably too long to delve into here but does include many very admirable causes. However, for the sake of this article, we will be focusing on two specific organisations that slot in with the conspiracy narrative: GAVI and WHO.
Who Are GAVI?
GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a worldwide health partnership aiming to get vaccines to poor countries. Bill Gates helped the founding of this alliance and has given crazy money to their cause with around $4.1 billion to date
[ref]. The GAVI name appears in the top 12 list of highest Gates donations five times
[ref] including the Gates’ biggest donation to date with $1,543,757,800 in 2016
[ref].
Despite saving a projected 13.4 million lives
[ref], GAVI’s business tactics have come under some serious questioning. They have been accused of not supporting local healthcare systems as well as older vaccines by always pursuing newer, better, and more expensive options, meaning higher profits for investors
[ref]. One example of this is when Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières - MSF) appealed to GAVI to use cheaper pneumonia vaccines developed in India rather than Pfizer/GlaxoSmithKline as those pharma-giants were swallowing up 80% of that project's financing
[ref]. As GAVI is privately funded, this also raises concerns over individual motives.
According to an article from the Guardian, GAVI has defended themselves by stating
“GAVI wants to encourage the pharmaceutical industry to develop new vaccines for killer diseases in developing countries. Industry would not invest in those diseases unless there was a potential market”[ref]. Regardless, it’s clear to see that in the world of vaccine domination, GAVI and Gates consider it a business.
Who Are WHO?
WHO (the World Health Organization) is a United Nations agency responsible for international health. Trump recently announced the termination of all US funding to WHO
[ref] which leaves the Gates Foundation as their biggest contributor
[ref]. WHO plays a crucial role in coordinating international responses to diseases and COVID-19 is no exception. For example, it was WHO that declared this coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic
[ref]. WHO has also been working with many social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) to flag or even erase misinformation
[ref]. While some praise this work, others worry about how much power this gives WHO and, in turn, the Gates Foundation.
Does Gates Control the Media?
Control is a strong word but as a video from the conspiracy theory YouTube channel The Corbett Report
[ref][ref] accurately points out, he does sponsor a lot of money towards news sources. These include $1,4 million to the BBC
[ref], $1.5 million to the ABC
[ref], and $3 million to NPR
[ref] as well as standing as the primary supporter of The Guardian website
[ref] and Our World in Data
[ref].
What Does This All Meaaaaan?
It completely depends on how you want to look on it.
On the one hand, the Gates Foundation has an absurd amount of wealth and could be gifting a decent portion of it to genuinely support organisations that they feel are doing good work. After all, programs like GAVI are saving lives (as we see above and more on this later). Plus, the Gates Foundation’s searchable grant database is transparent with its reasoning behind each and every donation
[ref].
On the other hand, the funding could apply pressure. We are looking at a situation where the research data, the international coordination, and the media reporting (including user-driven social media content) are all running on Gates’ pocket, meaning that if he does have an agenda, it wouldn’t be too difficult to nudge the entire health industry in his direction. The concern multiples when you remember we are dealing with a man famous for monopolising industries already
[ref].
Of course, there are other factors. Considering the sheer amount of organisations that the Gates fund, how many people would have to keep quiet if blatant manipulation was going on? How far would the blurry line of objectivity have to get molested before professional integrity kicked in for at least some of those involved? If Bill Gates truly had sinister motives, why is he so eager to put his name on everything? And as these conspiracy theories continue to gain momentum, is the Gates Foundation and its reputation becoming more of a kiss of death? Will there come a time where well-meaning organisations refuse sponsorship due to reputation? And will this rejection of funding costs lives? I dunno.
How Can Bill Gates Make Medical Statements Without a Medical Degree?
If there is any scary premise you can freely ignore, this would be it. No, Bill Gates does not have a medical degree. But he has hired many many advisors who do, including an entire medical research institute
[ref] to pass on relevant information. Do you have a medical degree?
The Billion Dollar Question: Will Bill Gates Gain or Lose Money From COVID-19?
It’s a difficult query with no definitive answer but we can break it down into smaller variables.
Before It’s News (a website which currently boasts a 0/100 trustworthy score according to News Guard
[ref]) posted a viral article
[ref] featuring a video by Zed Phoenix
[ref]. Together, they stated that the Gates Foundation stood to gain £45 billion from the vaccine in the UK alone. This figure was based on the price of £477 per injection which was reported by the Daily Mail and the Daily Mail only
[ref] which, as a resource, is notoriously problematic anyway
[ref]. Regardless, the Daily Mail prematurely crowned the biotech company Moderna as the vaccine kings, which comes with many puzzles in itself. First of all, Moderna's COVID work has not reported any funding from the Gates Foundation
[ref]. The U.S. Government Agency BARDA is looking after them
[ref]. Moderna also told Business Insider that their vaccine would not be priced more than other respiratory vaccines which could be ballpark-estimated to around $200 per shot
[ref]. Profit does not take into account how much each shot will cost to manufacture as well as the fact that the vaccine does not even fucking exist yet.
Nevertheless, the race for financial gain with a COVID-19 patent is very real in the pharmaceutical industry
[ref][ref] but there is a fight to prevent this. Trump received a letter from 46 Congressional Democrats urging the refusal of any private ownership of the future vaccine
[ref]. The EU is proposing a pooling arrangement
[ref] where information and patents will be shared to ensure lower prices and wide availability. In an open letter curated by UNAID and Oxfam (which was signed by over 140 world leaders and experts) demanded that all treatments be patent-free and available to everyone everywhere
[ref].
But perhaps most interesting of all, is the World Health Organisation’s stance on the matter. On the 24th of April 2020, they released the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator
[ref] which is aimed to make COVID-19 treatments available worldwide with a patent pool
[ref]. And what’s more, the launch itself was co-hosted by Bill and Melinda Gates
[ref]. To simplify: Gates is fighting for a globally accessible vaccine, free of privatisation. Some might consider this the death blow to the entire profiteering conspiracy.
Whether this comes to pass or not is another story but, if so, Bill Gates is looking to lose money from the pandemic. A lot of money. Figures include the initial $100 million donated in February 2020
[ref], the $150 million to WHO in hopes of balancing the US withdrawal
[ref], and further billions reported to fund seven vaccine factories
[ref].
Please Note: According to Americans for Tax Fairness, Bill Gates has, in fact, increased his wealth by 8.2% between March and May 2020, but this is unrelated to the outbreak
[ref].
Did Bill Gates Say He Wanted to Reduce the Population?
This bit of excitement started on January 1st 2016 with an article on Your News Wire (now known as NewsPunch, one of the most debunked websites on the internet
[ref]). The article was titled
"Bill Gates Admits Vaccines Are Best Way To Depopulate”[ref] based on a 2011 interview with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta. Here, Bill Gates stated that vaccines gave the chance to reduce sickness and therefore reduce population growth
[ref]. There was also a 2010 Ted Talk where Bill Gates spoke about carbon emission, stating that vaccines could lower our population by 10 - 15% (it's around the 4:30 mark
[ref]). These soundbites were enough to convince people that Gates had a plan to create a vaccine that either killed humans or reduced fertility, most likely aimed at developing countries for some ethnic cleansing reason (which we’ll discuss shortly).
What’s interesting is that NewsPunch has since completely backtracked on the article
[ref].
In truth, the concept Gates was referring to was this: the smaller the death rate of children, the smaller the chance parents will over-reproduce in hopes of survival. He's made this abundantly clear on several occasions
[ref][ref].
A different tangent of interest is the design of an implantable birth-control microchip developed by MIT and funded by the Gates Foundation
[ref][ref]. With this, users could turn on and off their fertility at will. This would almost seem like a good idea if we weren’t talking about Gates and microchips again, eek!
Is Bill Gates Using Africa As His Vaccination Guinea Pigs?
The distrust between Africa and Western medicine is complicated but if you’d like to explore the full length of it, Type Investigations has one of the most thorough articles that I’ve found on the matter
[ref]. If you do so, pay attention to the history between the Gates Foundation and Ghana
[ref].
What matters in context is that tensions were already high. But when it comes to Bill Gates and COVID-19 specifically, the stories appear to take higher flight on March 27 2020 with a Facebook post from acclaimed but controversial French microbiologist Dr Didier Raoult
[ref][ref]. The post questioned Bill Gates’ supposed decisions to test Africa with vaccinations then warned the continent to refuse any of the treatments. However, the text was plagued with spelling errors and some grew suspicious until Check News, a French-fact checking organisation, got hold of Raoult’s place of work where the story was confirmed as false
[ref]. Unfortunately, the damage was done and the hoax caused all kinds of trouble. South African media outlet News24 published an article perpetuating the claims but have since issued an apology and an investigation into how that got onto their site
[ref]. Video bloggers Diamond and Silk joined the bandwagon
[ref] and were then fired from Fox News (according to The Daily Beast
[ref]). A White House petition demanded an investigation into Gates’ “crimes against humanity”
[ref]. And the South African comedian Trevor Noah received death threats after interviewing Gates
[ref].
Things slipped deeper in early April where a debate featuring French doctors Jean Paul Mira (head of intensive care at Cochin hospital) and Camille Locht (head of research at the Inserm health research group) discussed potential vaccination experimentation in Africa
[ref]. This essentially had nothing to do with anything but served to intensify the anxiety.
Speaking to The Cable, Mark Suzman (CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) explained that these two doctors had nothing to do with their work and assured everyone that they are against using Africa as a guinea pig nation
[ref]. The World Health Organisation called the doctors “racist” and went on record that
"Africa can't and won't be a testing ground for any vaccine"[ref]. President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, tweeted his support for Bill Gates and thanked him for his medical support over the many years
[ref].
What About Candace Owens and Sharmeen Ahmed?
When it comes to this avenue of the conspiracy, no name appears to have spoken louder than that of Candace Owens. A highly controversial political activist, she is known for her stances that are pro-Trump
[ref], anti-#metoo
[ref],
and anti-the Black Lives Matter protests
[ref]. Due to her opinions on gun control and Islam, she was named the main influence behind the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand by the shooter himself
[ref].
On April 15th 2020, she accused Bill Gates and WHO for testing vaccines in Africa and India for years via Facebook
[ref] and Twitter
[ref]. To support her claims, she provided a paper by Sharmeen Ahmed published by the Golden Gate University School of Law
[ref][ref]. This paper appears to mainly attack three specific vaccination programs (HPV, malaria, and meningitis) run by nonprofit health organisation PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) which took place in India and Africa. This report has come under heavy scrutiny
[ref][ref] but let’s analyse the content for ourselves.
Did HPV Vaccinations Kill Children in India?
This is a biggie often quoted by opposers from all backgrounds.
In 2010, a PATH project was set up to reduce HPV infections for countries such as Peru, Uganda, Vietnam, and India. It was funded by the Gates Foundation
[ref]. India was a major focus here due to the country's yearly 60,000+ women who die from cervical cancer following HPV infection
[ref]. PATH vaccinated around 23,500 females
[ref] but the project was halted after news reports claimed seven girls had died from the treatment
[ref].
Investigations proved that these deaths were unrelated to the vaccine. Instead, they were caused by factors such as epilepsy, malaria, a snake bite, and two suicides
[ref][ref]. The reason why this seems logical is because the vaccines used (Gardasil and Cervarix
[ref]) are not new drugs and have been administered worldwide over 200 million times
[ref]. The notion that these were untested vaccines has also been debunked as Gardasil was first FDA approved 2006
[ref] while Cervarix was approved in 2009
[ref].
The Indian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Health and Family performed an investigation of their own
[ref] and had some interesting speculations (for example, that the vaccinations may have led to suicidal tendencies). In the end, they ultimately ruled that they could not find any connections. However, consent forms were determined to be incorrectly filled out which local newspaper The Hindu called “shockingly unethical”
[ref].
Both PATH and the Gates Foundation continue to work in India
[ref][ref].
A large theme throughout Sharmeen Ahmed’s paper is one of depopulation which we discussed earlier. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are no links between HPV vaccinations and infertility
[ref].
Did Malaria Vaccinations Kill Children in Africa?
Another biggie concerns PATH’s 2010 Malaria Vaccine Initiative. Here they used a vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline across seven African countries while receiving a grant from the Gates Foundation
[ref]. Ahmed’s paper hinted that of the 15,000+ children inoculated during phase three of the trial, 150 died as a direct result of the vaccine
[ref]. This statement loses all credibility when you learn that the number includes
all deaths after the vaccine within an 18-to-24-month timeframe for the older category, and a 9-to-17-month timeframe for the younger category
[ref]. The list of deaths was always open to the public
[ref] and includes causes such as HIV and drowning. 10 deaths were from malaria itself, which was considered low for the area
[ref]. According to The Dispatch Fact Check, none of these deaths were related to the vaccine
[ref].
Similarly, Ahmed claimed that 1,048 of the children suffered “serious adverse effects, including paralysis and seizure”
[ref]. That is incorrect. According to the very same study that Ahmed cites as her reference
[ref] only 11 children experienced adverse
events (keyword) directly related to the vaccine and the term “paralysis” is nowhere to be found. You can read the full list of adverse events here
[ref].
With a 30–50% efficacy
[ref], these trials were considered a massive success, potentially saving millions of lives, no ethical concerns were raised, and the program continues to move forward to this day
[ref].
Did Meningitis Vaccinations Kill Children in Africa?
Sharmeen Ahmed’s mention of PATH’s Meningitis Vaccine Project is so brief, it’s hardly worth going into. Known as MenAfriVac, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated a ten-year, $70 million grant to establish the project in 2001
[ref]. Costing around US$0.40 a dose
[ref] and completely eradicating meningitis in 16 countries by 2018
[ref] the project could not have been a bigger success. Even Ahmed struggles to negate the achievement, claiming
“there were reports of informed consent violations” but
“these were unsubstantiated” and
“there were reports of adverse health effects in Burkina Faso, but these were deemed by medical researchers as normal and did not warrant safety concerns”[ref].
There were four adverse vaccine-related side effects in Burkina Faso. That's one per three million vaccinated
[ref]. This was not a trial run either as the vaccine was already approved
[ref]. Nobody died. People would have died but now they live.
Who Is Currently Leading the Vaccine Race? Who Does Bill Gates Sponsor?
According to the man himself, there are 115 COVID-19 vaccine candidates as of April 2020
[ref]. Due to this, my information is certainly going to go out of date embarrassingly quickly, but at the time of writing (early June 2020), these are the main players who are already reaching the trial phase of the process:
CanSino Biologics
Where: China
What: Ad5-nCoV
[ref]
Human clinical trials have begun, the first vaccine to enter this phase
[ref].
The Gates Foundation has invested money towards previous vaccine research (at least $400,000
[ref]).
University of Oxford
Where: UK
What: ChAdOx1 nCoV-19
[ref]
Already recruited for human clinical trials phase
[ref].
The Gates Foundation has invested money towards this vaccine research (at least $7.5 million
[ref]).
Moderna
Where: USA
What: mRNA-1273
[ref]
Announcing first participants
[ref].
There has been no findable funding from The Gates Foundation towards this vaccine.
The Trump Administration has invested money towards this vaccine research (at least $483 million
[ref]).
BioNTech/Pfizer
Where: Germany/USA
What: BNT162 (a1, b1, b2, c2)
[ref] Recruiting for human clinical trials phase
[ref].
The Gates Foundation has invested money towards this vaccine research (at least $55 million
[ref]).
Sinovac Biotech
Where: China
What: CoronaVac
[ref]
Not yet recruiting for human clinical trials phase
[ref].
There has been no findable funding from The Gates Foundation towards this vaccine.
Advantech Capital and Vivo Capital have invested money towards this vaccine research (at least $15 million
[ref]).
Inovio Pharmaceuticals
Where: South Korea and USA
What: INO-4800
[ref]
Recruiting for human clinical trials phase
[ref].
The Gates Foundation has invested money towards this vaccine research (at least $5 million
[ref]).
Other big vaccine players to keep an eye on include Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, Shenzhen Geno-Immune Medical Institute, Novavax, the University of Washington, the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, Beijing Institute of Biological Products, and the University of Queensland.
Will We Be Forced to Take the Vaccine?
This depends on your country as the world differs on what vaccines should be voluntary, recommended, or mandatory. These decisions often revolve around public schooling and welfare. Furthermore, who knows what types of laws could come as a result of this pandemic. However, we can predict a glimpse of each nation’s potential stance by looking at their current laws. Here are some of those for interest’s sake:
Perhaps the most terrifying law was passed recently (March 2020) in Denmark which allows the government to forcefully COVID-19 vaccinate you once the meds come into existence. This law expires in March 2021
[ref]. Considering the country has no other mandatory vaccinations in circulation
[ref], this could be some indication of what’s to come globally.
Despite recent rumours
[ref], consent must be obtained for all vaccinations in the UK according to section 45E of the
Control of Disease Act 1984[ref].
USA laws depend from state to state but children are required to get certain shots if they attend public schooling
[ref]. However, 19 states do have medical, religious, and philosophical loopholes
[ref].
Australian vaccines are non-compulsory for adults but they will pay you A$129 if you take the plunge
[ref].
In the EU; Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia have up to nine compulsory vaccines for children
[ref][ref]. 13 EU countries have some form of mandatory vaccinations while 16 have none whatsoever
[ref].
Latvia is non-compulsory for adults but one must sign a document to state that they understand the risks
[ref].
Despite having the strongest anti-vaxxer population in the world
[ref] France require 11 vaccinations for public school kids
[ref]. Italy
[ref] and Germany
[ref] will fine you if you do not vaccinate your children.
Vaccinations are mandatory in Argentina
[ref], Brazil
[ref] and Indonesia
[ref]. Malaysia vaccinates their children as part of the school program
[ref].
That said, the majority of countries in the world are voluntary including all of Africa, most of Asia
[ref], Canada
[ref], and Russia
[ref].
Of course, good luck if you want to go on vacation anywhere outside of your own borders. Required travel vaccinations are already an implemented standard in many places
[ref] and COVID-19 will most likely join international programs.
Why Are Social Media Videos of Bill Gates Being Deleted?
While many platforms are working with WHO to flag misinformation
[ref], I am still able to find many videos which accuse Gates of microchipping or Satanic intentions or potential cashless societies
[ref][ref][ref] with millions of collected views to back them up. Yes, this includes ones that feature David Icke
[ref] and ones that use the clickbaity
“THEY WILL DELETE THIS” title
[ref] even though they don't delete this. It appears that most of the erased Gates-related content were the pieces that linked 5G to COVID-19 or disputed the existence of the virus
[ref][ref]. These videos were deemed against certain policies as a direct retaliation to the burning of 5G towers
[ref]. YouTube also demonetises anti-vaxxer channels
[ref].
Has Bill Gates Actually Done Any Good?
That’s somewhat of an understatement.
It would be an unreasonable expectation to list everything that Gates and his foundation has achieved through donations to other organisations over the years. However, here are some of the more impressive examples:
Helping to reduce infant mortality by 50% within 25 years (which equates to an estimated 122 million lives)
[ref][ref].
Helping to save an estimated 32 million lives through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
[ref].
Raising nearly $1.5 billion with Rotary to fight polio since 2007
[ref], helping to eradicate the disease from India by 2011
[ref] and wiping out two of the three wild strains by 2019
[ref].
Helping to reduce meningitis infections to an absolute zero in 16 countries
[ref].
Helping to reduce measle deaths in Africa by 90% since 2000
[ref].
And funding as well as naming the Omni Processor treatment which converts faecal matter into drinkable water for the developing world
[ref][ref].
Beyond his global health interest, Gates has also donated $6 billion to 392 universities in 51 countries
[ref]. His biggest donation was $1,264,876,898 to the United Negro College Fund, Inc in 1999
[ref].
What Does Bill Gates Say About All of This?
"I'd say it's ironic that you take someone who's doing their best to get the world ready and putting, in my case, billions of dollars into these tools for infectious diseases, and really trying to solve broadly infectious diseases — including those that cause pandemics. But we're in a crazy situation, so there's going to be crazy rumours." - Bill Gates
[ref]
