By Jorgen Soby

Gates says he's been approached by people in public who yell that he's "putting chips into people."

"That's kind of strange to see," he said. "Wow, those people really exist; it's not just some robot sending out crazy messages."

According to The Guardian, Gates also said it's "tragic" if such beliefs made people reluctant to trust vaccines or to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We're really going to have to get educated about this over the next year and understand…how does it change people's behaviour and how should we have minimized this," he said.

The COVID-19 vaccine, which Gates was referring to, was mandated in countries across the globe during the pandemic in unprecedented ways. In countries like Canada, citizens lost rights like mobility for declining the vaccine, which was approved on an emergency-use basis.

In a Twitter interview with Professor Devi Sridhar, head of the Global Health Governance Programme, Gates said he couldn't understand why some theorists think he wants to inject people with microchips.