Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he supports a COVID-19 vaccination and it is “totally my fault” for sharing a social media post calling benefactor Bill Gates a liar.
Hamilton has urged his followers to respect COVID-19 safety guidelines throughout the coronavirus pandemic but triggered criticism on Monday when he re-shared a post by internet personality Andrew Batchelor, who goes by the name King Bach and has collaborated with Hamilton in the past.
Batchelor shared a video of Microsoft co-founder Gates being interviewed in America about the COVID-19 vaccine his foundation is helping to fund, and captioned it with “I remember when I told my first lie”.
Hamilton shared that post on his own Instagram story, without additional comment, but has now deleted it and posted a statement instead.
“I’ve noticed some comments on my earlier post around the coronavirus vaccine, and wanted to clarify my thoughts on it, as I understand why they might have been misinterpreted,” Hamilton wrote on his Instagram account.
“First, I hadn’t actually seen the comment attached so that is totally my fault and I have a lot of respect for the charity work Bill Gates does.
“I also want to be clear that I’m not against a vaccine and no doubt it will be important in the fight against coronavirus, and I’m hopeful for its development to help save lives.
“However after watching the video, I felt it showed that there is still a lot of uncertainty about the side effects most important and how it is going to be funded.
“I may not always get my posting right, I’m only human but I’m learning as we go.”
Hamilton has been a prominent user of social media to support various causes in recent years, most prominently this year by throwing his weight behind the Black Lives Matter movement.
He has an audience of 18.3million followers that have access to his Instagram stories and has spoken in the past of wanting to use that platform for good.
