A NUMBER OF online posts and articles claim the World Health Organization (WHO) and Bill Gates have called for the military to enforce mandatory vaccinations in preparation for another pandemic.

This is false; both the Gates Foundation and the WHO, a UN agency which has no authority to mandate vaccinations, said they had not made any such recommendation.

The false claims were made in a number of countries. “Bill Gates has joined forces with the World Health Organization in calling for vaccine refusers to be rounded up by the military and force-jabbed with mRNA during the next pandemic,” wrote Jim Ferguson, a former candidate for British parliament with the Brexit Party, in a post on X last week.

The post shares an article from The People’s Voice, a website that has been fact-checked multiple times for spreading misinformation.

That article provides no further details on their claim that Gates and the WHO have called for the military to detain people to have them “force-jabbed”, nor does it cite any sources to back up its claims.

However, that has not prevented similar claims spreading across Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and Rumble, as well as in other online articles. Some repeat widely debunked claims that the Covid-19 pandemic was planned and that another is in the works for bird flu.

The WHO recommends Covid-19 vaccination, which studies estimate has saved millions of lives. The agency also supports vaccine research for bird flu, which has been on the rise and recently spread to mammals.

However, a WHO spokesperson said in an email to The Journal that allegations of forced vaccinations are “both flagrant lies and dangerous pieces of disinformation.”

“WHO provides technical advice and support to member states,” the spokesperson said. “It is sovereign member states who make decisions and take actions concerning health for their populations.

“It is a malicious falsehood and lie to claim that WHO has proposed any involvement of military as mentioned in these baseless allegations, nor does WHO have the ability to impose vaccinate mandates. These claims are simply not true.”

The Gates Foundation, the Microsoft co-founder’s philanthropy arm, also said the claim “is false”. News agency AFP found no credible evidence that the billionaire has publicly made such remarks.

The Journal has previously debunked claims that the WHO was attempting to take control of nations, including the ability to enforce lockdowns, or that its members were “arresting and prosecuting citizens who speak out against the Bird Flu vaccine”

“It’s a tragedy that lies about science and health are pushed so wantonly while people try their best to make considered decisions about their health and their family’s health,” WHO’s Director of Communications, Gabby Stern, told The Journal by email.

“Social media and news media platforms continue amplifying lies like this – we are seeing them again this weekend but we see them every day, all day.

“This cynical practice has contributed to a horrifying decline in childhood immunizations around the world – the result of which is the spread of terrible, preventable diseases like measles among children.”

With reporting from AFP

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