False: Bill Gates said he gets animals vaccinated to give them better genetics.

By: Ankita Kulkarni
January 11 2023

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Context

Over the years, various misinformation narratives on vaccines have targeted Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and even accused him of trying to "control" the world. A 37-second clip featuring the millionaire is now going viral on social media with the claim that Gates is "manipulating the genes" of livestock animals through vaccines. In the video, Gates talks about livestock and the means of improving their health; however, the clip was shared on Facebook on January 5, 2022 with the claim that the entrepreneur wants to "vaccinate animals to give them better genetics." The caption of the post read: "Bill Gates says he's vaccinated animals and manipulated their genes so they will be more productive. Gates and the WEF will not be happy until the whole of nature is grown from a patent that they own and profit from." The video has also been shared on Twitter with similar claims. American actor and comedian Rob Schneider also tweeted the video with the false claim about altering the genes of animals. His tweet garnered millions of views and has been shared over 36 thousand times so far.

In Fact

Through keyword search, we found that the video dates back to 2018 when the Gates Foundation (also known as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) partnered with the United Kingdom's Department of International Development (DFID) to fund research to protect agriculture and farmers from diseases. In the video, shared by the DFID on Twitter on January 27, 2018, talking about the partnership, Gate says: "Gates Foundation has partnered with DFID on a great number of things, and among those are work we do together on livestock, helping animals survive either by having vaccines or better genetics, helping them be more productive. It's making a big difference. I was down in Ethiopia seeing how chickens are out there laying more eggs, getting more nutrition, and even some small savings into the households. Edinburgh happens to be where a lot of best work on this is done, and that's why DFID and the Gates Foundation are funding scientists here (sic)." The video was also shared by the University of Edinburgh on its official Facebook account on January 26, 2018, with the title, "Funding to tackle global health challenges announced."

 In the video, Gates talks about helping animals to survive through vaccines or by giving them better genetics. The aspect of better genetics that Gates mentions in the video refers to selective breeding— a process that has been in practice for several decades. According to the U.N Climate Technology Center and Network (UNCTCN), selective breeding is a technology that improves genetic diversity influencing fitness in animals and determining their tolerance to shocks such as floods and droughts. Selective breeding is achieved through controlled mating in animals and can be applied to all types of livestock, including cattle, sheep, goats, alpacas, and guinea pigs. The UNCTCN website states: "Over the last half-century, it (selective breeding) has helped achieve dramatic improvements in the productivity of livestock species and in the health and welfare of livestock and other animals." 

 Additionally, according to the European Food Safety Authority(EFSA), genetic modification or genetic engineering in animals involves altering the animal's genetic material to modify specific characteristics or introduce a new trait, such as disease resistance or enhanced growth. These traits can be passed to the next generations, preventing them from life-threatening diseases. EFSA clarifies that although this technology has already been used in plants for agriculture and micro-organisms to produce enzymes, the technology on animals is still being researched.

 So far, there is no scientific or medical evidence or indication that animals are getting vaccinated to "manipulate their genetics," as the viral post claims. The available vaccines or those being developed protect animals from diseases and do not alter genes. 

 Any implication in the viral post that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines could alter a person's genetics or DNA is also unsubstantiated and misleading. Various health organizations have previously debunked similar claims affirming that vaccines do not enter the nucleus of a human cell that holds DNA, hence they cannot change or influence human genes. 

Social media posts claiming that World Economic Forum (WEF) and "elites" such as Bill Gates are trying to gain control over the population feed into conspiracy theories about New World Order and The Great Reset. Various fact-checking organizations, including Logically, have previously debunked claims asserting that "elites" are planning to enslave people and decrease the population to control the world. 

The Verdict

In the video, Bill Gates talks about helping livestock survive through vaccines or by introducing better genetics (possible through selective breeding achieved by control mating in animals). This video has been misinterpreted and shared with a false claim that animals are getting vaccinated to give them "better genes." No known vaccines alter the genetic makeup of animals or humans. Therefore, we mark the claim false.