Original article in Serbian was published on 22/11/2021
Original article in Montenegrin was published on 25/11/2021
Early last week, several bottles labeled “smallpox” were found in a laboratory in Pennsylvania, the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. This “incident” was reported by the American and Serbian media, including Informer, which included Bill Gates in the whole story. Informer wondered if the American billionaire already knew about these bottles, considering that he recently talked about bioterrorist attacks and the importance of preparing the world for future pandemics. This story was not picked up only by Serbian media. It also became popular in other SEE region countries, like Montenegro, where the fact-checking platform raskrinkavanje.me also published a debunk.
“THE WORLD IS ON ITS FEET, TEST TUBES WITH A SHOCKING SIGN DISCOVERED IN A LABORATORY IN PENSILVANIA!” The laboratory assistant found 5 BOTTLES in the freezer… Gates knew all this, so he recently announced a scary scenario?” the Informer reported on November 17, citing news from the American media.
Several bottles marked “smallpox” were found on November 15, in the laboratory in Pennsylvania, where vaccine research is being conducted, the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced at the time.
“There is no indication that anyone was exposed to a small number of frozen bottles”, the CDC said in a statement to CNN.
The bottles were accidentally discovered by a laboratory worker while cleaning the freezer.
The CDC has launched an investigation and stated that the content of the bottles looks intact.
According to media reports, 15 bottles were found in the Merck facility in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Five were labeled “smallpox”, and the remaining ten were labeled “vaccinia”.
Although Informer correctly conveyed the details of this “incident”, the same media included the founder of Microsoft and billionaire Bill Gates into the whole story about the newly discovered bottles.
The title is the following: “Gates knew all this, so he recently announced a horrible scenario”. Informer, however, distanced itself by putting a question mark at the end of the sentence.
Informer briefly explained to the readers what a “creepy scenario” it was.
“Coincidentally or not, billionaire Bill Gates warned a few days ago that world leaders must prepare for disasters such as the smallpox terrorist attacks”.
In early November, Bill Gates said in an interview with the chairman of the Health Committee of the British Parliament, Jeremy Hunt, that billions of dollars should be spent on research and development of mechanisms for prevention and preparation for the next pandemic.
He called on the WHO to establish a special working group to monitor the epidemiological situation, during which it will monitor and conduct “bacteriological exercises”. This would mean that countries practice how to respond to events that could cause the next crisis.
“What if bioterrorists bring smallpox to ten airports? How would the world respond to that?”, Gates asked, adding that there are naturally caused epidemics and epidemics caused by bioterrorism, which could be worse than what we are currently experiencing. Therefore, advances in medicine should provide us with tools to do better in the future.
The American billionaire mentioned smallpox in the interview only as an example of a bioterrorist attack.
However, his statement enabled Informer to doubt whether Gates already knew about the bottles that were found in a laboratory in Pennsylvania a few days later. However, there is no evidence for this.
Despite the “shocking label”, the CDC announced that the bottles do not contain the smallpox virus
The day after Informer published this news, the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that laboratory tests showed that bottles labeled “smallpox” contain “vaccinia”, i.e., “virus used for smallpox vaccine”.
“There is no evidence that the bottles contain the smallpox virus, which causes smallpox”, the CDC said in a statement on November 18, adding that they were in contact with health institutions, law enforcement agencies and the World Health Organization about the findings.
What is smallpox?
The smallpox virus (which causes smallpox) can only occur in humans. All studies using the smallpox virus are monitored by the World Health Organization. There are two locations where the smallpox virus is stored – the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Russian National Center for Virology and Biotechnology Research in Koltsov, Russia.
Smallpox was transmitted from person to person, and the infection was accompanied by fever and skin rash. Thanks to the successful application of the vaccine, the World Health Organization declared in 1980 that smallpox had been eradicated, according to the CDC’s website.
This story was not picked up only by Serbian media. It also became popular in other SEE region countries, like Montenegro, where the fact-checking platform raskrinkavanje.me also published a debunk.
