TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A number of posts across various Facebook [archive] and Instagram accounts claim that Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein have been planning the Covid-19 pandemic since 2017. This narrative emerged after the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released millions of documents from the Epstein Files to the public in late 2025.
The claim cites a document titled "EFTA02657725.pdf", which contains correspondence between Gates and Epstein regarding a strain pandemic simulation. The posts allege that this email is authentic evidence that Gates conducted a Covid-19 simulation long before the global outbreak occurred.
Is this correspondence between Bill Gates and Epstein truly evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic was orchestrated as early as 2017?
FACT CHECK
Tempo verified the claim by interviewing epidemiology and immunology experts and reviewing various credible records. The results demonstrate that while the strain pandemic simulation document was indeed included in the Epstein Files, there is no evidence of planning for the Covid-19 pandemic. Pandemic simulations are standard practice in epidemiology to strengthen preparedness for global health crises.
The Epstein Files are a collection of official documents resulting from investigations by U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These documents summarize the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire convicted of child sex crimes and human trafficking who died in a New York prison on August 10, 2019.
The authorities released more than 3.5 million pages of these documents on December 19, 2025, making them publicly available. The archive includes flight logs, phone books, digital forensics from hundreds of thousands of photos and videos, FBI records, and grand jury transcripts. Several world figures are mentioned within the documents, including Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, and Elon Musk.
Facts Regarding the Correspondence Between Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein
Tempo searched the official website of the U.S. Department of Justice using the keywords "strain pandemic simulation" and located two files coded EFTA02381427 and EFTA02657725. These documents contain correspondence titled "bgc3 Deliverables and Scope" dated March 3, 2017, involving Bill Gates, Larry Cohen, and Jeffrey Epstein. BGC3—now known as Gates Ventures—is a think tank founded by Bill Gates that focuses on global health and development issues.
Although the authorities partially obscured the identity of the sender, the documents outline five points of BGC3's proposed work in the fields of health and neurotechnology. The fifth point includes technical recommendations regarding a strain pandemic simulation. The email was subsequently forwarded to Epstein, who responded curtly with "okay." However, the contents of this correspondence do not at all prove any planning for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bill Gates denied the allegations during an exclusive interview with 9News Australia on February 4, 2026. In addition to expressing regret over his relationship with Epstein, Gates emphasized that the circulating email was manipulated. "The email was false. So, I don't know what his thinking was there," the Microsoft founder stated.
Pandemic Simulation in Epidemiology
Pandemic strain simulations are scenario studies or computer models used to map the spread of hypothetical virus variants. Airlangga University epidemiologist Windhu Purnomo described these simulations as a common practice to strengthen preparedness for health crises. "This simulation is as mandatory as earthquake or fire drills," Windhu told Tempo on Friday, February 6, 2026.
The United States held a tabletop exercise titled Event 201 in 2019 through a collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the World Economic Forum, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The United Kingdom also conducted Exercise Cygnus in London in October 2016, involving 950 personnel across government agencies to test responses to influenza threats.
Indonesia conducted its own H7N9 influenza simulation in South Tangerang in September 2017, even though the virus had not yet been detected in humans or birds within the country. In addition to field simulations, academics utilize mathematical modeling to predict the impact of an epidemic based on population size, transmission rate (R0), and hospital capacity. These calculations help governments identify gaps in facilities and resources.
However, the absence of regular simulations places Indonesia's preparedness ranking at a lower-middle level. According to the Global Health Security Index, Indonesia ranks fourth in ASEAN, trailing behind Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
The Origins of Covid-19
The February 2020 edition of the journal Nature noted that the Covid-19 pandemic began with a worker at a seafood market in Wuhan who was hospitalized on December 26, 2019. The patient complained of fever, dizziness, and coughing, followed by reports of more than 1,975 similar cases within a short period.
Research titled "A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin" identified this virus as a novel coronavirus named 2019-nCoV. Researchers found high genetic similarity between the virus and SARS-CoV and bat coronaviruses. Another study, "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2," concluded that SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus to infect humans, with a severity surpassing that of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.
Ari Baskoro, a lecturer in the Division of Allergy-Clinical Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine, Airlangga University, and Dr. Soetomo General Hospital, emphasized that the vast majority of scientists agree that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 was a natural process. "The initial transmission is suspected to have originated in bats," Ari told Tempo on Sunday, February 8, 2026.
Ari explained that viruses can be created for scientific purposes, particularly in the field of virology. However, they are not engineered to transmit new diseases, but rather to design vaccines, develop cancer therapies, and find effective treatments. Through this research, scientists can describe how viruses continually evolve to become more deadly.
He cited the example of how, thanks to technological advances, scientists successfully replicated the polio virus in 2002. Synthesis of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is also possible, helping researchers identify the virus type and develop vaccines.
Due to vaccination, major global epidemics such as smallpox, which caused hundreds of millions of deaths, were finally eradicated in 1977. Similarly, the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 infected approximately one-third of the global population and killed tens to hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Ari explained that past outbreaks have provided bitter lessons, not only in terms of human loss but also through the destabilization of social, economic, and cultural structures. The lack of vaccines or a delayed response to new pathogens in the past often exacerbated the situation, as seen with the Spanish flu and other infectious diseases throughout history.
CONCLUSION
Based on Tempo's investigation, the claim that the Covid-19 pandemic was planned as early as 2017 through "strain pandemic simulation" mentioned in emails between Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein is misleading.
TEMPO FACT-CHECK TEAM
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