Fact Check: Bill Gates Did NOT Admit That 700,000 People Will Be Harmed Or Killed By 'His' Coronavirus Vaccines

Fact Check

  • by: Alan Duke
Fact Check: Bill Gates Did NOT Admit That 700,000 People Will Be Harmed Or Killed By 'His' Coronavirus Vaccines No, He Didn't

Did Bill Gates admit that 700,000 people will be harmed or killed by his coronavirus vaccines? No, that's not true: The claim is misrepresentation of what the billionaire philanthropist said in a CNBC interviewed. First, COVID-19 vaccine would not be "his." While the Microsoft co-founder's foundation is spending hundreds of millions of dollars supporting COVID-19 testing, treatment and vaccine research, Gates would not own the vaccine. When Gates referred to 700,000 people potentially being harmed, he was using a hypothetical scenario to make it clear that great caution must be taken in vaccine testing to ensure it is safe.

The claim is included in a video posted on YouTube and used in an article published by NaturalNews.com on May 17, 2020, titled "Bill Gates admits that 700,000 people will be harmed or killed by his coronavirus vaccines" (archived here) which opened:

In his rush to develop one, two, or even seven different vaccines for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), billionaire software tycoon Bill Gates openly admitted that upwards of 700,000 people could become injured or die from these jabs.

The Microsoft co-founder and prominent eugenicist has been more outspoken in recent days than perhaps ever before about his desire to vaccinate the entire world, in this case as soon as possible for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). And the reality is that many more will die from the vaccine than from the virus itself.

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Bill Gates admits that 700,000 people will be harmed or killed by his coronavirus vaccines

In his rush to develop one, two, or even seven different vaccines for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), billionaire software tycoon Bill Gates openly admitted that upwards of 700,000 people could become injured or die from these jabs. The Microsoft co-founder and prominent eugenicist has been mor

Natural News, a website that has been caught promoting false claims about vaccines in the past, misrepresented what Gates said in his April 9, 2020, interview with CNBC. First of all, Gates never "admitted that upwards of 700,000 people could be injured or die" from a COVID-19 vaccine. It was a hypothetical number of those who might be harmed IF care was not taken. It is the opposite of the article's claim about Gates' "rush to develop one, two, or even seven vaccines." He was explaining the importance of not rushing.

Gates said a vaccine could be ready faster than 18 months "if everything goes perfectly," but until then the world will have to depend on new treatments developed to deal with COVID-19.

The article falsely claimed that Gates said that for a vaccine to be effective in older people it would "have to be super-charged, in a sense. And this super-charging means that some people are going to be injured or killed as a result."

What Gates really said was that making a vaccine that is effective in older people is "a huge challenge" because flu vaccines are less effective for the elderly. "And doing that so that you amp it up so that it works in older people, and yet you don't have side effects, if we have one in 10,000 side effects that's way more, 700,000 people who will suffer from that."

Note, he said it should be made so "you don't have side effects" that harm people. Gates never said "700,000 people will be harmed or killed" as the article's headline claimed he said.

A vaccine that does not give full immunity for the elderly is still a major protection for them, he said. "Most of the benefit comes from younger people not spreading it because they're vaccinated and that benefits, on a community basis, the elderly."

Gates did acknowledge that there "will be some risks" from a vaccine:

So, really understanding the safety at gigantic scale across all age ranges, pregnant, male, female, undernourished, existing co-morbidities, it's very, very hard and that actual decision of OK, let's go and give this vaccine to the entire world, governments will have to be involved because there will be some risks and indemnification needed before that can be decided on.

This is the video titled Bill Gates Admits [Cerveza 19] Vaccine could possibly Kill And Maim 700,000 embedded in the Natural News article:

This is the full interview as uploaded by CNBC:

The Natural News article ended with the suggested that Gates, who has vowed to leave almost all of his $106 billion fortune to charity, should be hung or shot to death and that he was "paving the way for the antichrist."

"The side effect of treason is lead poisoning or rope burn, but not usually both," joked one Big League Politics commenter in reference to Bill Gates.

John the Baptist paved the way for Jesus," wrote another. "Bill Gates is paving the way for the antichrist."

NewsGuard, a company that uses trained journalist to rank the reliability of websites, describes naturalnews.com as:

A network of sites promoting both medical and non-medical conspiracy theories, particularly the false claim that vaccines are linked to autism.

According to NewsGuard the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.

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Lead Stories is working with the CoronaVirusFacts/DatosCoronaVirus Alliance, a coalition of more than 100 fact-checkers who are fighting misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about the alliance here.


  Alan Duke

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

Read more about or contact Alan Duke

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