False claim that Bill Gates said society will exclude resisters of mRNA 'tsunami' | Fact check

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Bill Gates said people who resist the ‘mRNA tsunami’ will be excluded from society

A Sept. 30 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of a social media post purportedly from Bill Gates' account alongside a headline of a supposed news story.

“Bill Gates: People Who Resist ‘mRNA Tsunami’ Will Be Excluded From Society,” reads the headline.

It received more than 1,000 likes in four days.

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Our rating: False

Gates did not make that statement, a spokesperson for his foundation said, and there is no credible evidence that he has ever addressed the subject. The claim originated on a website known for publishing misinformation.

No evidence Gates discussed 'tsunami' of vaccines

A spokesperson for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told USA TODAY the claim was false.

There are no credible reports that the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft has ever discussed a “tsunami” of mRNA vaccines, much less asserted anyone would be excluded from society for not getting vaccinated.

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The claim originated from an Aug. 27 story posted by The People’s Voice, a website known for publishing misinformation.

The story includes no evidence that Gates made such a statement. Nor do any posts on the topic appear on his verified account on X, formerly Twitter.

That story also claims Gates predicted experimental mRNA vaccines would replace all medicines but does not cite any evidence of that purported prediction. And it includes a photo of a post on X purportedly coming from Gates’ account that states, “A tsunami of mRNA is coming – whether you like it or not,” along with an emoji of a syringe.

According to the foundation spokesperson, Gates has never said anything about replacing medicines with experimental vaccines, and the social media post in the photo is fabricated.

The supposed screenshot does not have a date and time stamp. If the post was real, both should be visible. No posts containing the words “mRNA” and “tsunami” were found on Gates' verified X account or on archived versions of it.

The phrase “tsunami of mRNA” traces back to a TED Talk given by Melissa Moore, Moderna’s chief scientific officer, in 2022. In it, she discussed the growing number of diseases that could be treated by mRNA technology in the future and did not say anything about excluding anyone from society.

The People's Voice, previously known as NewsPunch, has repeatedly published fabricated stories, many of which USA TODAY has debunked.

Gates has been a frequent target of misinformation and conspiracy theories. USA TODAY has previously debunked claims that Gates announced when the next pandemic would occur, that he created a video game called "Omicron" in 1999 and that he made social media posts about vaccines in the food supply.

USA TODAY reached out to The People’s Voice and to the social media users who shared the post but did not immediately receive responses.

Lead Stories, AFP, Check Your Fact and Logically Facts debunked similar claims.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bill Gates never called for mRNA resisters to be excluded | Fact check