Over the last year and a half, the world has been turned upside-down due to COVID-19. But the virus isn’t the only pandemic we are experiencing. As we continue to fight for our health and safety, a deadly wave of conspiracy theories and fake news concerning COVID-19 vaccines threaten to tear our country apart even further.
To understand why these anti-vaccine conspiracies are harmful, we must first consider the origins of vaccines. In the 1800s, a vaccine was found for smallpox, which was an enormous scientific achievement. However, this vaccine caused some who got vaccinated to become ill weeks after their dose.
Medicine was not as common in the 19th century, and this vaccine was many patients’ first encounter with advanced medicine. Once rumors of the vaccine being harmful started to spread, the anti-vaccination movement was born and lives on as we know it today.
Understandably, some would not trust a vaccine if the research concerning the vaccine was not thorough and backed up by scientific evidence from medical experts. However, at present, anti-vaxxers are given more than enough information that proves that vaccines like the COVID-19 vaccine are safe, effective, and necessary. The real question is: Why is the anti-vaxx movement even stronger than in previous years despite technological improvements that have allowed for more advanced, accurate scientific data and evidence? A simple answer would be the influence of social media and prominent American figures.
Social media has been the breeding ground for conspiracy theorists for years, but because of quarantine periods at the height of the pandemic, Americans had more time and more reasons to go online. At the same time, quarantine periods angered a great number of Americans, who were hesitant to comply with the health and safety restrictions that were being enforced across the country. These same people were willing to listen to anyone who sympathized with their anger and argued that their feelings were justified.
Once the COVID-19 vaccine was made available, the complaints and conspiracies of politicians and reporters that were ever-present during quarantine were expected to die down since many restrictions had been lifted and it seemed as though life was slowly returning back to normal. But, of course, this did not happen. Many citizens’ lack of trust in the American government and in mainstream media, mixed with their faith in the stories of their fellow conspiracists, has caused an immense anti-vaxx movement across the country.
I was curious to see why millions of people were intrigued and influenced by anti-vaxx conspiracy theories that outwardly went against all released data, facts, and science, so I decided to create a new Twitter account and search up a notorious American politician: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy is the founder of Children’s Health Defense, an organization that has produced 54% of the anti-vaccination ads on Facebook.
Although reading through his tweets was interesting (and, quite frankly, alarming), I was more interested in going through the Twitter accounts that were recommended to me upon viewing Kennedy’s profile. The first person I discovered was James Lyons-Weiler, CEO of Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge, a non profit that conducts scientific research. Lyons-Weiler makes fascinating comments, including that “Karen” is a racial slur. He also shared some interesting “facts” on the efficiency of the vaccine. “The current vaccines have lower efficacy against circulating types than required for FDA’s [Emergency Use Authorization],” Lyons-Weiler said. “These are incontrovertible facts.” This statement does not match the FDA’s report on how the vaccine is over 95% effective.
The next recommended account was that of Carrie Madej, a physician who prefers to use “traditional medicine.” Madej calls vaccines “injections” and states regularly that not a single vaccine has proven effective, even though countless trials and tests have proven that the COVID-19 vaccine in particular is efficient and trustworthy.
Madej also posted a podcast about how vaccines are killing more people than they are saving even though currently, only three people have died after receiving their shot. Both Lyons-Weiler’s and Madej’s accounts are simply stating opinions and clear lies and mimicking them as facts, and they project their false claims to over 100,000 followers combined.
The influence of accounts such as these goes far beyond social media and into the real world, where there have been reports of anti-vaccination protests worldwide. Anti-vaxxers in Cincinnati, for instance, are facing felony charges after blocking several highways in Ohio. Additionally, anti-vaccination protesters charged a food court with chants of “my body, my choice” (a slogan commonly used by abortion rights organizations) echoeing through the mall. Protests are rising throughout Australia and things are becoming very violent between police and protesters.
These protests symbolize the stubbornness and ignorance of anti-vaxxers and how dangerous cries of conspiracy theories can really be. More variants of COVID-19, such as the Delta variant, will appear the longer people remain unvaccinated. This may cause a second quarantine to commence.
The world needs to unite to overcome the virus that has controlled our lives for the past two years. The problems we’re undergoing now could be solved if Americans were just willing to listen to the cold hard facts.
