Right wing disinformation outlets continue to peddle conspiracy theories regarding vaccines, whose safety and effectiveness have been proven to prevent the spread of the virus that's killed over 600 thousand Americans and upended daily life in the United States for more than a year.
From Fox News to Newsmax to One America News, far-right media personalities have claimed the vaccine is "against nature," that it doesn't actually work, and that efforts to get more Americans vaccinated are on par with Nazi and Jim Crow-era atrocities.
Former President Donald Trump could wield his continued near-universal acclaim within the Republican Party to stop this. Trump, who was vaccinated privately this past January, has urged his supporters to take the vaccine, but has done little to combat the escalation of vaccine conspiracy theories foisted on the American people in recent weeks. In fact, he's even promoted lies about the vaccines he credits himself with facilitating.
In an erratic statement from this past weekend, Trump associated public trust of the vaccine with public trust—or lack thereof—in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which Trump continues to falsely claim was "stolen."
A dangerous turn of events as Trump flirts with anti-vaccine sentiment.pic.twitter.com/aQBd7Z3ilc— Blake News (@Blake News) 1626627589
The statement read in part:
"[Biden]'s not doing well at all. He's way behind schedule, and people are refusing to take the Vaccine because they don't trust his Administration, they don't trust the Election results, and they certainly don't trust the Fake News, which is refusing to tell the truth."
Trump has frequently endorsed distrust of Biden, the election, and the media. Associating distrust of these entities with distrust of vaccines was seen by many as an endorsement of vaccine hesitancy rooted in conspiracy theories.
It was a statement that critics said could be deadly.
We're at the "Don't get vaccinated and die to own the libs" stage, and the fact that it works is really scaryhttps://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— Thomas Juneau (@Thomas Juneau) 1626633854
This is a dangerous f'ing game he's playing https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— Bullsnitty (@Bullsnitty) 1626651210
This is dangerous ! And why we can\u2019t have nice things. #GetVaccinated !https://twitter.com/numbersmuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— JustSusan \u2b50\ufe0f (@JustSusan \u2b50\ufe0f) 1626649163
Statements like this are, literally, killing people.https://twitter.com/numbersmuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— Hoops Maven (@Hoops Maven) 1626636506
he's gloating about "people not trusting Biden with the vaccine I made" instead of telling people to take the vaccine. he doesn't care if you die, MAGAts.https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— Kang Variant Jefe (@Kang Variant Jefe) 1626632620
I still don\u2019t understand why they want more Americans to die of Covid. I wonder how many families are facing financial ruin from Covid hospital bills and January 6 lawyer feeshttps://twitter.com/numbersmuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— Mary \u201cplease get vaccinated \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc\u201d Witt (@Mary \u201cplease get vaccinated \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc\u201d Witt) 1626636188
Social media users skewered Trump's statement.
It's tough to fit this many lies and contradictions in one paragraph. Not going to lie I'm kinda impressed.https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— Ryan (@Ryan) 1626636927
What\u2019s his point? People are right to distrust the vaccine he is taking credit for? He never makes sense. Moving on\u2026https://twitter.com/numbersmuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— Just Plain Kate (@Just Plain Kate) 1626659980
This is exactly why Trump will not speak up and try to save the lives of citizens and most importantly his own supporters. \n\nTfg is always, always looking out for #1, himself\u2026Me, my and I.https://twitter.com/numbersmuncher/status/1416806210356056064\u00a0\u2026— K (@K) 1626638816
The anti-vaccine hysteria continues.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram