A syringe is filled with Moderna s COVID-19 vaccine at University Hospital Magdeburg.
PHOTO: RONNY HARTMANN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
News from U.S. manufacturer Moderna that its COVID-19 vaccine is still “expected to be protective” against a virus variant first detected in South Africa came as a relief to scientists and the public. But the 25 January announcement included a caveat: Antibodies triggered by the vaccine appear to be a little less potent against the new variant, named B.1.351, than the one the vaccine was developed for. So researchers were perhaps even more relieved to hear the company will start development of booster shots tailored to B.1.351 and other variants.
Mr. Gates, whose Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a major partner with the World Health Organization, has long been the center of New World Order conspiracy theories, but those theories took on new life during the pandemic, ranging from claims that he created the pandemic for profit or was tracking people through microchips administered through the vaccine.
“I have no idea where that came from,” Mr. Gates said of the microchip theory.
And even if it were physically possible, which it isn’t, “Why would I be involved in that?” he said in an interview Wednesday with USA Today. “I don’t get it.”
By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates says he has been taken aback by the volume of crazy and evil conspiracy theories about him spreading on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, but said on Wednesday he would like to explore what is behind them.
In an interview with Reuters, Gates said the millions of online posts and crazy conspiracy theories about him and about top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci had likely taken hold in part because of the combination of a frightening viral pandemic and the rise of social media. Nobody would have predicted that I and Dr. Fauci would be so prominent in these really evil theories, Gates said.
TODAY
January 27, 2021
Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates says he has been taken aback by the volume of “crazy” and “evil” conspiracy theories about him spreading on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, but said on Wednesday he would like to explore what is behind them.
In an interview with Reuters, Gates said the millions of online posts and “crazy conspiracy theories” about him and about top U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci had likely taken hold in part because of the combination of a frightening viral pandemic and the rise of social media.
“Nobody would have predicted that I and Dr. Fauci would be so prominent in these really evil theories,” Gates said.