MAHA says tick bite rise linked to Bill Gates

Bill Gates is accused of breeding ticks to promote plant-based meat – a conspiracy theory that has resurfaced online, gaining traction among followers of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement despite being debunked three years ago.

The Gates Conspiracy

Social media users are claiming that the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist bred and released ticks carrying alpha-gal syndrome, a life-threatening allergic reaction to red meat. The theory, which has been circulating since at least 2023, alleges that Gates wants to steer consumers toward the plant-based meat products he has invested in, such as Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat and Upside Foods. The MAHA Moms Coalition, a group linked to the broader MAHA movement that distrusts established medical and scientific institutions, has asked farmers to come forward and confirm whether boxes of ticks were being left on their land. No evidence has been provided to support any of these claims.

The syndrome is in fact tied to the Lone Star tick, which is entirely different from the ticks involved in a British research programme that Gates partially funded. That programme, which aims to genetically modify cattle ticks (Rhipicephalus microplus) to prevent them from reproducing and infecting livestock, has no connection to alpha-gal syndrome or the Lone Star tick. The Associated Press fact-checked and disproved the same conspiracy theory in 2023.

Alpha-gal syndrome is a genuine medical condition, first documented in the United States in the early 2000s, long before the Gates Foundation invested in tick research. It is an acquired allergy to alpha-gal, a carbohydrate found in mammalian meat, triggered by the bite of certain ticks. Scientists attribute the recent increase in cases to climate change, which has allowed ticks to expand their range, and to growing populations of white-tailed deer, a key host for Lone Star ticks. Despite the lack of evidence, one Instagram video comment blaming Gates received more than 122,000 likes last week.

Pfizer Drawn into the Fray

Another strand of the tick conspiracy targets the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Social media users allege that Pfizer is planting ticks to drive demand for its upcoming Lyme disease vaccine. One user, @colinfrank, wrote: “Did y’all know Pfizer started working on a tick vaccine in 2021 and is set to release in 2027. What f—–n timing huh.”

Pfizer actually announced its plans for the vaccine – developed in collaboration with Valneva – in 2020, and last March reported that the candidate, known as LB6V, was more than 70 percent effective in preventing Lyme disease. Submissions to regulatory authorities are planned for 2026. The Public Health Communications Collaborative, a non-profit formed during the Covid-19 pandemic, states there is “no evidence to support these claims”. It also notes that other posts falsely claimed the vaccine is mRNA-based, repeating myths about mRNA vaccine safety.

Vaccine hesitancy, a major factor doctors have cited in the resurgence of once-eliminated measles and record flu seasons, underpins many of these theories. Neither the Gates Foundation nor Pfizer immediately responded to a request for comment.

This is not the first time a tick conspiracy has spread widely. A long-running theory alleges that Lyme disease originated from a Cold War-era U.S. bioweapons programme at New York’s Plum Island Animal Disease Center. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has ties to the MAHA movement, has said he “probably” promoted that claim. The American Lyme Disease Foundation has fact-checked and dismissed it. Decades of scientific evidence, including museum specimens and a 5,300-year-old mummy, show that Ixodes ticks and the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria were present in the U.S. long before the Plum Island facility was established in 1954. The Department of Homeland Security and the USDA have confirmed that the centre studies foreign animal diseases affecting livestock, not human pathogens, and has never conducted research on Lyme disease. Experts who helped identify the bacteria dismiss the bioweapon origin theory as having “no grounds whatsoever”.

Joellen Lampman, tick and school IPM coordinator at Cornell University’s Integrated Pest Management Program, told The Independent that she has stopped trying to dispute the Plum Island theory. “I have stopped trying to dispute it and begun asking questions. ‘What if it is true?’ ‘How does that change your desire/need to protect yourself from a tick bite?’ Because I believe if we blame issues on nefarious ‘others,’ then we remove our confidence that we can protect ourselves. After that exchange, we can more easily discuss what steps to take,” she said.

The Real Reasons Behind the Tick Surge

While conspiracy theories proliferate, the factors driving the increase in tick populations and tick-borne diseases are well understood by scientists – and they are largely the result of human actions and environmental changes.

Warmer, shorter winters caused by climate change allow ticks to become active earlier in the year, expand their geographic range and survive in new areas. The Lone Star tick, responsible for most cases of alpha-gal syndrome, is a clear example of this northward expansion. At the same time, changes in how we manage our landscapes – such as increased afforestation, the expansion of urban areas into greenbelts and reduced biodiversity in woodland areas – create more favourable habitats for ticks and their hosts.

Rising populations of host animals, especially deer and rodents, directly contribute to tick proliferation. In some regions, a decline in sheep grazing has diminished a natural form of tick control, as sheep historically acted as “tick mops” by removing ticks from vegetation. Invasive species, both plants that provide ideal tick habitat and new tick species themselves, add further pressure.

These environmental factors have real consequences for human health. Alpha-gal syndrome is estimated to have affected up to 450,000 people in the United States as of 2023. In the UK, the condition was first described in travellers returning from abroad but is now confirmed to be caused by native Ixodes ricinus ticks. Lyme disease incidence is also rising: laboratory-confirmed cases in the UK range from 2,000 to 3,000 annually, though some charities believe the true number could be as high as 45,000 due to diagnostic challenges. Approximately 1 to 5 percent of tick bites in Europe can lead to Lyme disease, and around 4 percent of ticks in England and Wales carry the bacteria, with the figure reaching 8 to 10 percent in some areas.

Even tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a viral infection previously rare in Britain, has been detected in the UK since 2019. While cases have been limited, climate change and changing land use could increase the risk of transmission. The highest-risk areas include heavily forested regions with large deer populations, such as parts of Hampshire, Dorset and East Anglia.

“Warmer, shorter winters combine with changes in how we manage our landscapes, reduced wildlife diversity, invasive species – both plants that enhance tick habitat and different tick species – and how we interact with our environments to increase the risk of tick-borne diseases,” Lampman explained.