Bill Gates was ‘very surprised’ that ‘crazy’ Covid conspiracy theories targeted him and Dr. Fauci

Since the pandemic began to spread a year ago, Gates has been outspoken about the steps that global leaders should take to combat the coronavirus. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has also pledged at least $1.75 billion overall to the global pandemic response effort, including supporting the development of vaccines and treatments.

“We’re really going to have to get educated about this over the next year and understand … how does it change peoples’ behaviour and how should we have minimized this?” he added, referring to the wild claims that spread online.

In the interview, Gates also offered up praise for Fauci, who is now advising President Joe Biden on the pandemic, as well as Dr. Francis Collins, who Biden has retained as the head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Gates called the two scientists “smart” and “wonderful people.”

In October, Gates told CNBC that he was concerned that baseless conspiracy theories about himself and Fauci could be harmful to the U.S. coronavirus response if they chipped away at people’s trust in public health strategies, such as the rollout of Covid vaccines.

“That’s unfortunate, particularly if it undermines the mask wearing or if it undermines, as the vaccine gets approved, … [how] people not only protect themselves, but protect their loved ones, protect the community by participating in something that’s proven to be safe?” Gates said on “Squawk Box” at the time, just a couple of months before the first Covid vaccines began to be distributed in the U.S.