An online article claims 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 UN agency, which provides advice to governments and has no authority to mandate inoculations, denied making any such recommendation.

“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,” says Jim Ferguson, a former candidate for British Parliament with the Brexit Party, in an August 2, 2024 X post.

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

Similar claims spread 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.

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Screenshot from The People’s Voice taken August 5, 2024

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

However, a WHO spokesperson told AFP the allegations of forced vaccinations are “both flagrant lies and dangerous pieces of disinformation.”

“It is sovereign member states who make decisions and take actions concerning health for their populations,” the agency said in an August 5 email.

“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.”

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

AFP and other news organizations have debunked claims that the Geneva-based WHO is seeking to control member states’ health policies through a pandemic treaty. The agency again refuted those accusations after the latest round of social media posts.

“WHO has no power to detain anyone. Claims that WHO is working with governments to do this are false and dangerous,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist working with the agency (archived here), in an August 3 X post (archived here).

“Decisions on health actions undertaken inside countries rest with sovereign governments.”