Bill Gates: ‘Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories Are The Reason Why Americans Aren’t Getting Vaccinated’

Bill Gates, a billionaire health benefactor, focused on odd Covid conspiracy ideas since the outbreak. Now, according to Gates, rumors and misinformation are preventing many Americans from being vaccinated against Covid, so postponing the end of the pandemic.

Last week, Gates reported on his blog that “intrigue ideas that unfortunately involve me” had hampered Covid vaccine uptake in the U.S., but that he expected immunization rates to be substantially higher by now.

According to the CDC data, 61 percent of the U.S. population has been properly vaccinated against Covid.

According to Our World in Statistics, at least 83 other countries or territories have greater completely vaccinated rates, including countries on every continent except Antarctica, which did not have any recorded data.

“This is characteristic of a bigger trend toward institutional distrust,” Gates wrote, “and it’s one of the issues I’m most concerned about heading into 2022.”

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey published in November, 78 percent of U.S. adults believe at least one part of misinformation regarding Covid infection or vaccines or are uncertain whether that misinformation is real or fraudulent.

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Among those polled, the most common Covid myths involved “the administration is overstating the number of Covid deaths” and “pregnant ladies should not take the vaccine.”

Both myths are untrue: According to experts, the CDC may be undercounting Covid deaths, and there is no scientific evidence that the country’s Covid vaccines can cause fertility problems. According to the CDC, the vaccines are completely safe for pregnant women, breastfeeding, or planning to become pregnant.

Unfortunately, millions of Americans are still hesitant or unwilling to get vaccinated against Covid, owing to misinformation and a lack of information — and there is no simple solution to combating misinformation.

Gates’ suggestion: The government should establish clearer social media policies to prevent people from spreading false information, particularly information harmful to people’s health.

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“A clip falsely declaring that the Covid-19 vaccine causes infertility should not be allowed to circulate globally under cover of being news,” Gates noted.

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