Bill Gates: ‘Conspiracy theories that unfortunately involve me’ are keeping many Americans from the Covid vaccines

 https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/14/bill-gates-conspiracy-theories-keep-people-from-getting-covid-vaccine.html

Since the start of the pandemic, billionaire health philanthropist Bill Gates has been a target for bizarre Covid conspiracy theories.

Now, Gates says, those rumors and pieces of disinformation are keeping many Americans from getting vaccinated against Covid — and delaying the end of the pandemic by doing so.

In a blog post last week, Gates wrote that “conspiracy theories that unfortunately involve me” have impacted Covid vaccine uptake in the United States, adding that he expected vaccination rates to be much higher by now. To date, 61% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against Covid, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.