Every time a Fox News personality, a politician or a social media influencer promotes false ideas about the vaccine or disparages the scientists battling the pandemic, they are not only making those who listen more likely to contract the coronavirus, they are also adding to our own seemingly endless pandemic plight.
There’s no question we need to get more vaccines to poorer countries. But it’s also true that in South Africa, lack of vaccines is not an issue. The issue, at least in part, is skepticism about the safety of the vaccine and the seriousness of the virus stoked by conspiracy theorists and their echo chamber.
The outrageousness of the claims is escalating, most shockingly on Fox News, which has become a purveyor not just of deranged ideas but of its most offensive variants.
Some people may take some unseemly satisfaction in knowing that the anti-vax measure is sweeping away the supporters of those who promote it, but the reality is that the virus does not limit itself to those who mock it.
Yes, we need to get everyone — everywhere — vaccinated. But as long as there’s a massive propaganda effort aimed at keeping people from accepting the vaccine, the arrival of Omicron is one more warning shot, one more sign that the pandemic can exploit social weaknesses, divisions and cynicism to continue preventing us from getting back our full lives. Those who tell the lies are at least partly responsible for everyone’s continuing plight.
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