A post on Facebook that is shared hundreds of times says the new coronavirus has been patented and that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation already has a patented vaccine. The impact of the post appears to be that before the outbreak, the new coronavirus and a vaccine were produced.
Such statements and the post's inference are wrong. We saw no credible proof of the human-made Covid-19.
The post-US patent — US2006257852 — does not relate to the latest outbreak of coronavirus.
According to the United States National Medicine Library, the patent issued in 2006 for a number of approaches to the detection, treatments, and prevention of SARS (serious acute respiratory syndrome from 2002 to 2004). It is abandoned, so it's not working at the moment.
As previously reported, 'coronavirus' is a broad range of viruses that infect both humans and animals including the original SARS virus, certain viruses that cause the current pandemic conditions such as cold and virus (technically known as SARS-CoV-2).
A European patent – EP3172319B1 – is also mentioned in the posting which claims to be a new coronavirus vaccine. The patent continues to be active.
This is not again associated with the new outbreak of coronavirus. This is for a virus vaccine that contains birds, a different type of coronavirus. The patent proprietor said in his address to journalists in France:
"The European patent EP3172319B1 has not been filed on the ground of the current COVID-19 pandemic for the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus.”
"In 2018, the Institute received this patent for a new vaccine development approach to improve poultry infectious bronchitis virus vaccines. No plans exist for its use in the development of human coronavirus vaccines.
The post on Facebook claims that the owner of the patent is a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation company.
The Pirbright Institute is in Woking's vicinity. As we have recently checked, it receives some funding, but it is not owned and is supported by a range of other sources from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.