Microsoft founder, and one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates, has spoken out about the huge number of ridiculous conspiracy theories regarding himself and the CoVid-19 vaccine circulating on the internet.
Many of these conspiracy theories involve ideas that he is supporting a vaccine as a mass-tracking tool for the population, or that he plans to poison the world as part of a population reduction program, or that he and other evil forces were behind the CoVid-19 pandemic in the first place.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Gates spoke out against the bizarre online claims and of his doubt about the effectiveness of the initial vaccine programs. He also suggested that the current pandemic would not be over until late 2021.
He stated in the interview:
"Well, the initial vaccine won't be ideal in terms of its effectiveness against sickness and transmission. It may not have a long duration, and it will mainly be used in rich countries as a stopgap measure. We'd be lucky to have much before the end of the year."
He then added:
"It's strange. They take the fact that I'm involved with vaccines and they just reverse it, so instead of giving money to save lives, I'm making money to get rid of lives. If that stops people from taking a vaccine or looking at the latest data about wearing a mask, then it's a big problem."
Gates did also say that any vaccine should not be made mandatory as this could in turn backfire:
"Making something mandatory can often backfire. But you might say that if you're going to work in an old-folks home or have any exposure to elderly people, it would be required."
The United States is experiencing huge rises in CoVid-19 cases, with over 1,500 people dying in the last 24 hours, Europe is likewise experiencing a big uptick in infections. 750,000 people worldwide are now confirmed to have died since the start of the pandemic.
While many vaccine trials are looking promising, the only one that has been given the green-light is the Sputnik V vaccine in Russia, which is skipping stage 3 trials and will be used in mass immunisation programs from October this year. The World Health Organisation has spoken of its worry of giving out an untested vaccine on such a wide-scale.
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