Posts on social media claim that Bill Gates allegedly wants to “microchip” people, while Dr. Anthony Fauci wants the public “to carry vaccination certificates”.
As of May 5, 2020, multiple posts with this claim have over 29,700 shares.
Examples are visible here , here , here and here . The claim is false.
The Reuters Fact Check team previously debunked a claim that Bill Gates planned to launch microchip skin implants to fight the coronavirus ( here ). The claim emerged after a Reddit Q&A in which Gates mentioned foreseeing the use of “digital certificates” to show who has been tested for COVID-19 or who has recovered from the disease ( here ).
Most of the iterations of this claim misleadingly refer to “quantum dot dye” technology, which was founded by the Gates Foundation. Kevin McHugh, one of the lead authors of the “quantum dot dye” research paper, confirmed to Reuters this technology is not a microchip or human implantable capsule. Instead, it is similar to a tattoo, which would help provide up-to-date patient vaccine records for professionals in places lacking medical records.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told Reuters via email that: “The reference to ‘digital certificates’ relates to efforts to create an open source digital platform with the goal of expanding access to safe, home-based testing.”
Reuters found no evidence of any statement given by Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, part of National Institutes of Health), regarding vaccination certificates.
The viral posts might stem from a CNN interview in which Dr Fauci said the idea of Americans carrying “certificates of immunity” in the future is “possible”. He added that this “might have some merit in certain circumstance” (at the 2:48 mark here ).
According to Dr Fauci, these certificates would identify those who have tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, rather than a potential vaccine. He confirmed these are already being discussed by the White House coronavirus task force and would be useful for vulnerable people and health workers ( here ).
While the U.S. Government certainly appears to be considering “certificates of immunity”, as of May 4, 2020, Reuters did not find evidence suggesting Fauci thought it compulsory that Americans would have to carry immunity certificates in the future.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently warned governments against issuing “immunity passports” as there is no evidence that recovered patients cannot be reinfected ( here ). In late April, Chile confirmed it will move forward with coronavirus “release certificates” for recovered coronavirus patients, but that these documents will not certify immunity ( https:// www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-chile/in-reversal-chile-says-coronavirus-release-certificates-will-not-prove-immunity-idUSKBN22B2ZY ).
VERDICT
False. Bill Gates foresees the use of “digital certificates” with health records but did not say these would be in the form of microchip implants. Dr. Fauci has accepted the possibility of Americans carrying “certificates of immunity” in the future, not vaccination certificates.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.