Issued on: 12/05/2026 - FRANCE24
05:36 min From the show
As the number of confirmed hantavirus cases from the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius reaches nine, social media users have firmly revived Covid-19-era conspiracy theories of "bioweapons" and "plandemics", making the online rhetoric feel eerily familiar. Among these resurrected theories, the name of American billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has once again emerged.
Similar to viral posts in 2020, internet users have shared unfounded claims that an episode of The Simpsons "predicted" the hantavirus outbreak years ago, or claimed hantavirus was mentioned in the Epstein files.
In the same vein, old comments from Bill Gates have resurfaced and are being heavily shared. In a clip from his 2025 interview on ABC's "The View", Gates warned that future pandemics could be worse than the coronavirus, saying: "It won't be the last pandemic. The next one could be far more severe."
The reemergence of this video triggered viral posts claiming it "proved" Gates was "planning" a pandemic, or that as a top contributor to the World Health Organization via his foundation, he's benefiting from a potential pandemic by exploiting health crises, as he tries to make money from mass vaccination.
Not only is Gates far from the only voice who's warned of vigilance towards new outbreaks, the WHO has remained firm in its assessment that hantavirus is unlikely to become a pandemic at all.
The Gates conspiracy theories have been unfounded for six years, and remain so, but it's no surprise to see his name return to the eye of the storm as coronavirus conspiracy theories are rehashed.
Vedika BAHL explains in Truth or Fake.
'Plandemic, Covid 2.0': Fact-checking viral conspiracy theories about hantavirus
Issued on: 11/05/2026 - FRANCE24
05:07 min From the show
As the world saw with Covid-19, the only thing that spreads faster than a virus is misinformation, and hantavirus is no exception. Despite only a few confirmed cases, conspiracy theories have swirled on social media, falsely claiming hantavirus is a planned pandemic, or a ploy to disrupt the US midterm elections. Others allege it's a "bioweapon" created by big pharma to "poison" people or even that it's a side effect of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Many Covid-era conspiracy theories have been revived since the outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, likely amplified due to the anti-vaxx movement and fears about a new global pandemic.
As with the coronavirus, theorists allege hantavirus is a planned pandemic – or "plandemic" – created by Big Pharma and vaccine manufacturers; a "biological weapon" created in a laboratory to push vaccines onto the masses.
Known conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and Marjorie Taylor Greene (who was notorious for sharing false narratives during the Covid-19 pandemic) amplified these claims on their platforms, with Greene also sharing fake news that anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin could be used to cure hantavirus as it "blocks RNA viruses from entering the nucleus, preventing replication".
In reality, there's no research that Ivermectin could be used as a treatment, and hantavirus replicates in the cytoplasm, not the nucleus, rendering Ivermectin useless against its replication.
Global public health guidance also does not predict that a pandemic due to the hantavirus is likely. As Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management at the World Health Organization recently said at a briefing: "This is not Covid, this is not the start of a Covid pandemic. This is not the same situation we were in six years ago. It doesn't spread the same way."
Internet users also falsely claimed that hantavirus is a "planned side effect" of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, sharing a Pfizer document that references "hantavirus pulmonary infection" as part of a list of adverse events of special interest. This document in fact lists health conditions that scientists monitor during vaccine trials, not side effects.
Vedika Bahl fact-checks the viral conspiracy theories in Truth or Fake.
As the world saw with Covid-19, the only thing that spreads faster than a virus is misinformation, and hantavirus is no exception. Despite only a few confirmed cases, conspiracy theories have swirled on social media, falsely claiming hantavirus is a planned pandemic, or a ploy to disrupt the US midterm elections. Others allege it's a "bioweapon" created by big pharma to "poison" people or even that it's a side effect of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Many Covid-era conspiracy theories have been revived since the outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, likely amplified due to the anti-vaxx movement and fears about a new global pandemic.
As with the coronavirus, theorists allege hantavirus is a planned pandemic – or "plandemic" – created by Big Pharma and vaccine manufacturers; a "biological weapon" created in a laboratory to push vaccines onto the masses.
Known conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and Marjorie Taylor Greene (who was notorious for sharing false narratives during the Covid-19 pandemic) amplified these claims on their platforms, with Greene also sharing fake news that anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin could be used to cure hantavirus as it "blocks RNA viruses from entering the nucleus, preventing replication".
In reality, there's no research that Ivermectin could be used as a treatment, and hantavirus replicates in the cytoplasm, not the nucleus, rendering Ivermectin useless against its replication.
Global public health guidance also does not predict that a pandemic due to the hantavirus is likely. As Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management at the World Health Organization recently said at a briefing: "This is not Covid, this is not the start of a Covid pandemic. This is not the same situation we were in six years ago. It doesn't spread the same way."
Internet users also falsely claimed that hantavirus is a "planned side effect" of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, sharing a Pfizer document that references "hantavirus pulmonary infection" as part of a list of adverse events of special interest. This document in fact lists health conditions that scientists monitor during vaccine trials, not side effects.
Vedika Bahl fact-checks the viral conspiracy theories in Truth or Fake.
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