Covid-19 vaccines conspiracy theories: Sheep in wolves clothing!

Introduction 

At a moment in time when the novel and deadly corona virus continues to sweep across the face of the continent leaving in its wake dead bodies and broken families, there has been an unprecedented surge in the influx of conspiracy theories about covid-19 vaccines on online media. As a result, online streets have not been able to contain the flooded frenzy over a global conspiracy to establish a “new world order”, with some even boldly alleging an existing plan to wipe away Africa from existence. One is left to interrogate why such distrust exists with regards to the covid-19 vaccine when essentially most of our most effective modern medicines and vaccines for other diseases were developed in those same countries the theorists allege are attempting a genocide on Africans. One thing is clear, the once held mythical beliefs that Africa was somehow immune to the covid-19 disease has sunk under the sea after the virus has recently renewed its gigantic onslaught operations, launching a flurry of indefensible missile attacks on African soil, with South Africa taking the most of it. So if such a myth radically changed in the face of evidence i.e. the fast rising death toll in Africa albeit previously held beliefs of immunity, why is the evidence on safety of vaccines under siege? The piece seeks to unpack some of these and why such theorists pose a danger to civilization.

What is a conspiracy theory?

Miriam Webster dictionary defines a conspiracy theory as “a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators”. It further defines it to mean a theory asserting a great importance is being kept from the public. An even better description of conspiracy theories is proffered by ec.europa.eu as a belief that certain events or situations are secretly manipulated behind the scenes by powerful forces with negative intent. 

Exuc.europa.eu attempts to establish as nexus over why they tend to be believed by a substantial number of people some even educated. The answer is because “they often appear as a logical explanation of event or situations which are difficult to understand and bring a false sense of control or agency”. 

A perfect example is why last year beginning January everyone questioned why Africa which has crumbling healthcare systems was recording very few covid-19 transmissions and deaths whilst the USA and other leading nations with much more developed healthcare in the world were seriously hit with the pandemic. Amidst such contrasts and weirdly strange expectations that the virus was supposed to heavily slaughter Africa, myths emerged out of the shadows that black people were immune to the virus. Lockdown measures were generally not adhered to as most communities went  about their daily businesses, some without  maintaining social distancing and proper wearing of masks. In the face of such flagrant violation of regulations, health experts warned a bloodbath in Africa but evidence did not immediately correlate with such warnings. Desperate for answers, myths began circulating around. It would only be convenient to assert immunity as the only logical explanation for such a strange occurrence and many accepted the view.  In other words conspiracy theories sound logical although this might not correlate with the truth. The recent exponential rise in the number of covid-19 related infections and deaths in Africa speaks to this reality. To suggest it thrives in the winter is to miss the clear evidence that it thrives in every season and precautions should thus be taken at all times.

More perplexing is the fact some of these myths have had serious repercussions. I’m tempted to classify some of the myths as pure lies. A lie is defined by Merriam-Webster as “to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive or to create a false and misleading impression”.  It is possible one might lie without knowing it? I submit it is possible. One way of doing so is spreading conspiracy theories without verifying the credentials of the author and the information contained therein. Former US President Donald Trump for instance is quoted by Tanya Lewis on www.scientificamerican.com to have insisted that Covid-19 was not more dangerous than seasonal flu. Tommy Beer (Forbes) corroborates by reporting that President Trump admitted to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward’s in early February that he knew the corona virus was more deadly than even your strenuous flue but the former president continued to compare covid-19 to flu which had an effect of playing it down.

To assert the former US president is responsible for the deaths of over 400 000+ Americans would be erroneously unfair but it is safe to point out the importance of communicating verifiable information especially from trustable government sources that command a huge public following. Verifiable information allows people to realize the importance of public health measures such as wearing masks, social distancing and sanitizing as prescribed by the World Health Organization and in turn strengthens humanities odds against the killer virus.

Myths about vaccine intending to kill Africa

Firstly I want to make it clear that spreading conspiracy theories is an even more dangerous than the possible side effects of vaccines. To start off with, every vaccine has side effects, regardless of how perfect the clinical trials may be.  This is primarily the reason why the concepts of herd immunity exists in the medical and scientific fraternity i.e. it is for the majority but may not necessarily produce the same results in everyone. 

The conspiracy theories that there’s an organized secretive plot to kill Africans is simply unsubstantiated.  For instance one theory asserted that Pfizer was designed to wipe away Africans from the face of the planet through coordinated plans by the global elites also went on to provide statistics and data on how the same had been administered in the USA and how white Americans were dying of it. To claim on one hand that a vaccine is designed to wipe away a specific race but on the other claim that thousands belonging to an entirely race that have received the same vaccine are dying or have been adversely affected is an irreconcilable contradiction! It just doesn’t make sense. Pure fiction folks.

Moreso, the definition I have proffered of a conspiracy is to the effect that it involves a secretive plot. One wonders at why a group of global elites who are well aware of the existence of such a thing called crimes against humanity would reveal openly to their victims that they want to kill them and hope they will actually kill them! Telling your victim that you’re going to commit genocide on them using a vaccine is simply a dummy way of performing genocide. This absurdity would have made a little bit more sense if the vaccine was mandatory on the public but it being voluntary, one wonders at why a global elite knowing very well the existence of this freedom of choice would openly expose their plot to Africans of intending to kill them all. It simply would mean if the whole of Africa, or the majority refused to take vaccines, the plan would had failed but also the plan would have left enough evidence to have these elites prosecuted for crimes against humanity! Such is the absurdity of some theories! This leaves one with one inescapable conclusion: the intent it so spread misinformation in order to build mistrust in the vaccines.  But at what cost? People’s lives!? Discrimination against the rich!

The damage conspiracy theories cause!

1. Undermining public health institutions.

The surge of mistrust against western developed vaccines has also involved influential clergymen in the facts v fiction showdown. ZimEye at www.zimeye,net, on Friday January 22 in a paper titled: Watch video: Makandiwa vows he will never take corona virus vaccine reports that the prophetic pastor vowed not to take the vaccine and further that the vaccine is harmful to our health. Whilst the GoZ(Government of Zimbabwe)  has warned it will descend heavily on people that spread misinformation, the prophet has been spared the blade amid ongoing police arrests of popular opposition politicians on charges of spreading falsehoods bent on undermining public institutions. 

The GoZ would later come out guns blazing and rubbishing  away the rumors of conspiracy theories on vaccines and further vowing that it will establish safety of these first before allowing distribution. The Health Minister who also doubles as the country’s first vice president Rtd General Constanino Chiwenga also said the government was monitoring the vaccines closely.

 In a strikingly contrasting fashion, the Roman Catholic pontiff, Pope Francis took a jab of the vaccine repelling off conspiracy theorists alarms over safety concerns of the drugs. He is quoted on 13 January 2021 by Gerard O’Connell, in a paper titled “Pope Francis and Benedict XV1 have received the Covid-19 vaccine” (www.american magazine.org) to have announced that “I believe everyone should receive the vaccine; it is an ethical option because your health, your life is at stake and also you are putting at stake the life of others”. Archbishop Ganswein is reported to have told the German Catholic news agency KNA Jan.11 that Pope-emeritus Benedict who lives in a concerted monastery in the Vatican Gardens, and his entire household wanted to be vaccinated as soon as the vaccine was available in Vatican City State. He told Vatican News that the retired pope has been following the news “on television, and he shares our concerns about the pandemic, about what is happening in the world, about the many people who have lost their life because of the virus”.

In other parts of the world religious sects have undermined public health institutions by ignorantly and flagrantly preferring fiction over facts. In South Korea for instance, the founder of Shincheonji Church, Lee Manhee is facing the prosecutorial blade after violating health regulations. According to the BBC NEWS on 02 March 2020 in a paper titled Corona virus: South Korea sect leader to face probe over deaths (www.bbc.com), Lee Man-hee claims he is the messiah and of all 230,000 members of the church who were interviewed, nearly 9000 said they were showing symptoms of corona virus. The paper further notes that growing anger over the sects handling of the outbreak has sparked a petition calling for the church to be disbanded and nearly 1.2m people have signed it. Surely such negligence is alarming and requires censure.

2. Undermining the value of tested and safely approved medicines

On a bigger picture of the crisis, the rejection of tried and tested vaccines and preference to widely celebrated “traditional medicines” as effective against covid-19 once again exposes misinformation and misunderstanding about the healthcare crisis in Rural Africa amongst both Africans and the conspiracy theorists. WHO, AFRICA at www.afro.who.int notes that the overwhelming majority of deaths in the WHO African Region are caused by HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB). Along with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), these infections are diminishing Africans quality of life as individuals and thwarting entire countries ability to develop vibrant and productive communities, stronger communities and safe societies. It is common cause millions of Africans die from tropical diseases such as HIV, malaria, cholera, Ebola etc every year and these numbers are as a result of lack of access to proper healthcare, medicines and vaccines.

 To suggest people should cling to unproven “traditional” medicines over tried and tested vaccines is to greatly undermine the work of the medicinal community that has saved millions of people from time immemorial. It entirely ignores the fact that these staggering numbers are precisely at their peak because these traditional medicines have not been as effective as modern safely approved ones. The medicinal and scientific community exists due to public trust and confidence. One does not necessarily need to understand cancer to undergo chemotherapy  because of this well built public trust. Consequently one does not necessarily need to understand HIV to accept ARVs as treatment for the AIDS disease. In all history, trust has been the defining ingredient between medical practitioners and the public. To spread unsubstantiated conspiracy theories is to undermine that trust and cast millions of Africans living in rural areas to the abyss of death. To spread such unsubstantiated claims is to act without empathy and to be irresponsible. It is at most selfishness and murderous! If you won’t take the vaccine, don’t but don’t be the cause why someone dies because they didn’t take the vaccine they badly needed to have survived. Think deeply about this!

3. Fuels hate, discrimination and bigotry.

Apart from sowing public distrust in  health institutions, the unsubstantiated claims that elites such as Bill Gates & Dr Antony Faucci are in the secretive conspiracy to cause a bloodbath on vaccine recipients does nothing further than fuel public hate, discrimination and bigotry. Such cheap politicking cannot be on the forefront of current discourse especially when millions of lives are at stake. The enemy is the virus and it does not discriminate based on whether one is rich or poor. It requires human solidarity, rich or poor, black or white, African or European. So do your part and stop spreading false information!

4. What do we do? 

The World Health Organization has posted guidelines on its official twitter handle on how to curb the spread of misinformation. I will summarize the most important of these them as follows: (1) establish the source and verity it (2) identify the author, verify them. In summation, it is essential that we remain vigilant against both misinformation and the virus. The only reason why the virus hasn’t claimed more than it has now is because of the hardworking scientific communities, governments and organizations which have studied the spread of the virus, its effects, its symptoms and methods of curbing it together with all frontline workers including courageous doctors and nurses, policing and health institutions and all essential servicemen and women. 

Conclusion.

So folks, let us be responsible. Lets mask up, sanitize and maintain social distance. Lets also verify sources and content before sharing with the public. The virus thrives in misinformation! By convincing thousands and millions, the vaccine is the enemy, it shifts away attention from the hard and brutal truth that covid-19 is the real enemy. Spread the word! The enemy will fall! Aluta!