Bill Gates Complains That He and Fauci 'Have Been Subject to a Lot of Misinformation'
Bill Gates shared his misery online on Tuesday, complaining about the misinformation that he believes has spread about him and Dr. Anthony Fauci during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gates participated in a Twitter Q&A with Devi Sridhar, director of Global Health Governance and a professor at the University of Edinburgh Medical School.
“One major problem has been online misinformation on Facebook & other platforms around vaccines, masks and other interventions- how do we deal with this challenge? When expertise is neglected and conspiracy theories are spread as if they are truth?” Sridhar asked.
Gates suggested that the “trusted authorities” were too late and insufficiently loud.
“Trusted authorities like [the World Health Organization] and [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] need more resources to see the pandemic early (surveillance) and to communicate better. Social media got behind on trying to get factual information out – there will be a lot of debate about how to do better on that,” he wrote.
“People like you and I and Tony Fauci have been subject to a lot of misinformation. I didn’t expect that. Some of it like me putting chips in arms doesn’t make sense to me – why would I want to do that?”
People like you and I and Tony Fauci have been subject to a lot of misinformation. I didn’t expect that. Some of it like me putting chips in arms doesn’t make sense to me – why would I want to do that?#
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) January 11, 2022
Gates was referring to a spate of conspiracy theories that made the rounds of social media to the effect that he was using the COVID-19 vaccines as a means of implanting microchips into millions of people.
[firefly_poll]
“I’ve never been involved [in] any sort of microchip-type thing,” Gates said in June 2020, according to USA Today. “It’s almost hard to deny this stuff because it’s so stupid or strange.”
“In a way, it’s so bizarre you almost want to see it as something humorous, but it’s really not a humorous thing,” he said.
Elsewhere in the Twitter Q&A, Gates offered his take on the origins of the coronavirus.
“The data is pretty strong that it came from another species which is true for most pandemics. People will continue to speculate on this and we should make sure labs are careful. There will be future outbreaks coming from other species so we need to invest in being ready,” he wrote.
Gates also said that when the omicron wave is over, COVID-19 will be a nuisance much like the flu.
A more transmissive variant is not likely but we have been surprised a lot during this pandemic. Omicron will create a lot of immunity at least for the next year. @trvrb tracks the genetics really well. We may have to take yearly shots for Covid for some time.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) January 11, 2022
“As countries experience their Omicron wave health systems will be challenged. Most of the severe cases will be unvaccinated people. Once Omicron goes through a country then the rest of the year should see far fewer cases so Covid can be treated more like seasonal flu,” he wrote.
“A more transmissive variant is not likely but we have been surprised a lot during this pandemic. Omicron will create a lot of immunity at least for the next year.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
