Bill Gates on Wednesday completely rejected conspiracy theories alleging the billionaire Microsoft co-founder is nefariously involved in the continuing novel coronavirus pandemic.
The tech executive-turned-philanthropist told CBS News there is no truth to claims he is bankrolling coronavirus research as part of a plot to inoculate people with microchips.
“No, there is no connection between any of these vaccines and any tracking type thing — at all,” Mr. Gates said. “I don’t know where that came from.”
He added he was unsure how the theories started but said that some are “deeply ironic” given the work done by his philanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Our foundation is about reducing death and bringing equity to health. And yet the idea that we get accused of creating chips or the virus — I think we just need to get the truth out there. We need to explain our values so that people understand why we’re involved in this work and why we’re willing to put hundreds or billions to accelerate the progress,” Mr. Gates said.
“I hope it will die down as people get the facts,” he added.
Mr. Gates, 64, announced in April that his foundation will invest billions of dollars to fund factories where seven different potential coronavirus vaccines will be developed.
Baseless conspiracy theories speculating about his supposed nefarious connections to the coronavirus have run rampant in recent months since and widely amplified on social media.
Roger Stone, President Trump’s convicted former campaign adviser who recently had his federal prison sentence commuted, even boosted the bogus claims during an April interview.
“I have conservative friends who say it’s ridiculous, I have others who say it’s absolute,” Stone said at the time. “But here is what I do know for certain: He and other globalists are definitely using it for mandatory vaccinations and microchipping people so we can tell, quote unquote, whether you’ve been tested.”
The results of a poll conducted in May by YouGov for Yahoo News found that 28% of U.S. adults — including 44% of Republicans and 19% of Democrats — believe Mr. Gates is using the pandemic as a pretext to implant microchips in people.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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