Bill Gates' trip to Singapore falsely linked to 'vaccine mandate' claims

"Singapore passes law to mandate vaccines and jail the unvaccinated -- days after Bill Gates' high-level visit," reads a May 12 post by an Australia-based Facebook page with more than 9,000 followers.

The post links to an article with the same headline on "The People's Voice", a dubious website which AFP has repeatedly fact-checked for amplifying Covid-19 misinformation. 

The site has also previously claimed Gates and the World Health Organization (WHO) were "forcing vaccination", which AFP has debunked here.

"Just as Bill Gates and the WHO's Tedros Ghebreyesus wrapped up high-profile visits with the nation's top leaders, sweeping changes were quietly pushed through the country's legal system—changes that now make it a crime to refuse mandatory government vaccines," reads the article, calling the timing "impossible to ignore".

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on May 29, 2025

Other posts claiming Singapore would mandate vaccines also appeared on X, Facebook and TikTok.

But Singapore's Ministry of Health told AFP the claims are false.

"Singapore has not passed any laws on vaccinations after Mr Gates’ recent visit to Singapore," the ministry said in an emailed statement on June 3.

The billionaire was in Singapore on May 5 to announce his philanthropic Gates Foundation would be opening an office in the country (archived link).

The Straits Times and Forbes also reported the announcement (archived here and here).

Low likelihood of vaccine mandate

A number of the false posts referenced Sections 47, 65, and 67 of Singapore's Infectious Disease Law (archived link). 

The provisions state that the director-general of health may direct "any person or class of persons not protected or vaccinated against the disease to undergo vaccination" when "an outbreak of an infectious disease... is imminent" and "it is necessary or expedient to do so for the securing public safety". 

"The authorities must show these two requirements are satisfied before they can impose any vaccine mandate," Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, told AFP on May 29 (archived link). 

Penalties for failing to be vaccinated under the amendments would include a fine of up to 10,000 Singapore dollars (around US$7,760) and a prison term of up to six month for the first offence, while a second offence would see the punishment doubled.

Tan said the penalties, however, would only apply when a vaccine mandate is in place, though the "likelihood of such a scenario is very low". 

He added that the statutes within the law make a blanket vaccine mandate "highly exceptional because they are severely intrusive and people cannot be compelled to be vaccinated". 

More of AFP's reporting on health misinformation is available here.