The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, founded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is the primary source of funding for the UK’s Medicine & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
This health regulator recently granted emergency authorization for vaccines developed by companies in which Gates has financial interests. The most recent of these is SKYCovion, a Covid vaccine approved for people aged 18 and above.
The foundation holds significant shares in Pfizer and BioNTech, two major pharmaceutical companies associated with this vaccine.
In June 2021, the MHRA extended its emergency authorization for Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccines to be administered to children between the ages of 12 and 15 in the UK. Critics have raised questions about a possible conflict of interest due to Gates’ financial investments in both Pfizer and BioNTech.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation acquired shares in Pfizer back in 2002, increasing their value through media promotion of Pfizer’s vaccines last September 2020. In addition, the foundation purchased $55 million worth of shares in BioNTech shortly before the Covid pandemic began in 2019.
Furthermore, during a CNBC interview with no formal medical or scientific qualifications, Gates expressed faith in the Pfizer vaccine despite there being only 1,127 participants included initially with 30 dropping out after receiving first dose – information not made public by FDA yet further raising concerns about potential conflict of interests.
The MHRA disclosed that since 2017 they have been receiving grant money from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation amounting up to $3 million dollars supporting various projects.
With all this money coming from one source raises even more questions about potential conflict of interest when making decisions on approving new drugs as well as extending authorizations on existing ones.
One such example would be what was done with regards to administering Pfizer/BioTech vaccines to children between 12-15 years old without any public information about those who dropped out early after getting first dose being released yet claiming safety and effectiveness was demonstrated according to Chief Executive Dr June Raine’s statement despite data from small scale study showing higher than average rate adverse reactions among children involved.
