Indonesia’s role in a high-profile tuberculosis (TB) vaccine trial funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has unleashed a wave of conspiracy theories and misinformation online – prompting health officials to clarify that the country was not being treated as a “guinea pig” and that the jab was not developed by Gates himself.
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The backlash began after President Prabowo Subianto met Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates at the presidential palace in Jakarta on May 7. Following the meeting, Prabowo told reporters that Gates was “developing a TB vaccine for the world” and that “Indonesia will be one of the places to test [the vaccine]”.
He praised Gates’ contributions to the country, noting that the foundation had provided more than US$159 million in grants since 2009, mostly for health programmes. Prabowo also announced plans to award the billionaire Indonesia’s highest civilian honour during the United Nations General Assembly in New York this September, saying he would propose the decoration at a coming meeting of the honorary council.
But Prabowo’s comment about Indonesia becoming the testing ground for the vaccine drew fire online, igniting a wave of misinformation on social media claiming the vaccine is unsafe and questioning Gates’ intention.
“[Indonesia] received a grant of 2.5 trillion rupiah (US$151 million) and Indonesia will be the testing ground for Bill Gates’ TB vaccine. There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” said one social media user.
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“Why does Bill Gates want to test the TB vaccine in our homeland, why doesn’t he test it in his homeland?” asked another. “Why don’t other countries want their people to be used as guinea pigs? Only poor countries are targeted?” asked a third.