In a recent interview with The Guardian, Bill Gates explained that he was targeted by conspiracy theorists during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this caused some people to approach him with this accusatory attitude in real life.
“There have been a few cases where I’ve met people in public who yelled at me saying I had a chip, and it was kind of weird to see it: I thought, ‘Wow, these people really exist,'” Gates said.
The billionaire said he thinks the conspiracy theory of microchipping in the coronavirus vaccine is starting to wane compared to the first time, but that it was “tragic if it caused people to be more reluctant to trust vaccines or not to wear masks where they should.”
Conspiracy theories about vaccines predate the coronavirus pandemic. The conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 vaccine injects a microchip connected to 5G mobile networks that can track people was produced by people in different ways in previous outbreaks.
When Microsoft shut down Internet Explorer in June, Gates mocked on Twitter that the service had to be shut down because Microsoft had “run out of microchips” in its coronavirus vaccine. But Gates later said he didn’t want to make too much fun of vaccine conspiracy theories because it was a “pretty serious event”.
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