Celebrity anti-vaxxers need to leave coronavirus vaccine to the experts
As coronavirus rages on, the need for a vaccine has never been greater. What we don’t need, though, is A-listers dishing out ill-informed advice to the masses, writes Louise Roberts.
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What the world needs right now is a vaccine for coronavirus.
We know this to be true.
Across the globe, we are crippled and so intense is our desire for a lightning speed medical miracle we would pay any price, with cash and our emotions, for a syringe in our arms and a nurse pumping in blessed protection from COVID-19.
What the world does not need right now however is any leverage, any splinter of a platform given to the anti-vaccine brigade and their twisted message of ‘natural health’.
Yet here we are – celebrities with no real expertise other than self promotion, wading into this frightening era of pandemic and pontificating that vaccines are untrustworthy, that they are bad.
And ever faithful to the script, they are ignoring the obvious that immunisation – thanks to herd immunity – prevents the spread of the disease. A medical relief they themselves benefit from.
If anything, the famous and wealthy have a responsibility to appreciate their said fame and wealth and leverage it for good.
Recently we had star chef Pete Evans taking to Instagram to spruik a $15,000 light “Bio Charger” that he claimed could help the body fight coronavirus.
He told his followers that the device “is a pretty amazing tool” adding it had “a thousand different recipes and a couple on there for ‘Wuhan coronavirus’.”
No matter that the BioCharger website had a disclaimer that the device is “not intended” for use in the “diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in man or other animals”.
Evans was ridiculed, but not by the likes of actor Isabel Lucas who wrote on his post: “Freedom of choice is every human’s right. I don’t trust the path of vaccination.”
Today it has been revealed that Lucas has lost her new ambassador gig for Plan International Australia after provoking controversy with her comments.
A statement from Plan said "it was aware of the issues" and there was a "mutual agreement to end the ambassadorship".
And another vaccine expert Taj Burrow, the surfer, is also a sceptic arguing that vaccines are not “needed”. “Just a good immune system”. Utter rubbish of course.
Last year NRL WAGs Taylor Winterstein, wife of Penrith Panther Frank Winterstein, and Shanelle Cartwright, married to Gold Coast Titan Bryce Cartwright, had restrictions placed on Instagram accounts which they had used to promote anti-vax messages.
Frankly, the anti-vaxxer has no place in any discussion about good public health initiatives. They don’t base their position on any valid scientific research.
Two pharma giants GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi have this week said they will work together on a vaccine with a view to clinical trials and availability after mid next year.
And where should the vaccine sceptics be in the queue for that needle?
Right at the back, because after all they do not support this type of crucial research.
Experts are bewildered by people like this who are resistant to science and think they know better than the medical community.
Australian Medical Association federal councillor Dr Antonio Di Dio says “individuals who have a voice such as celebrities have a responsibility to use that voice appropriately at all times, but especially at a time like this”.
And then this: “(Lucas and Burrow are) not claiming to be something that they are not, they’re not claiming to be scientists or doctors or researchers or professors of medicine.”
“What Pete Evans is doing is claiming that he has a product that works to cure coronavirus and that is a whole different level of responsibility, and carries with it a whole different burden of what he needs to prove.”
We vaccinated against smallpox. Thanks to vaccination, smallpox is now no longer a threat, thanks to vaccinations TB and polio are in the same category.
Sensible parents know not to play with their children’s lives. So why would a vaccine for coronavirus be any different?
And could there be a more toxic hybrid than the celebrity anti-vaxxer? The perfect match of stupidity and ego.
One of the things about COVID-19 is that it doesn’t discriminate. Nor will you know how bad it will be until you get it.
When the pandemic began it was thought it would mostly claim the lives of the elderly and chronically ill. We have since learned this is not the case. It has killed infants, teenagers and fit and strong people in their 30s and 40s.
It hasn’t discriminated from a socio-economic status either.
What makes this disease scary is not knowing how it might affect you if you are unlucky enough to get it.
I wonder how these anti-vaxxers will feel if it is their mother or father who is denied the right to intensive care or ventilation simply because of their age, health status or likelihood of recovery.
No doubt they will find a way to use that to rail against the system, or maybe they are banking on their loved one taking advantage of a vaccination if offered it.
Because right now, the only hope we really have of conquering COVID-19 is a vaccination and a treatment. Public health orders are stemming the flow of new cases for now but that can’t last forever.
Vaccines work on the herd theory. And as they are not yet certain that having coronavirus affords you any immunity to the virus post-infection, the need for a vaccine is crucial.
A recent article in New Scientist revealed there just isn’t enough evidence to confirm whether recovering from COVID-19 induces immunity, or whether any immunity would give long-lasting protection against the virus.
And the only thing we have in common with anti-vaxxers is that we are fighting a common enemy – coronavirus. Until then, we can only hope they come to their senses.
Originally published as Celebrity anti-vaxxers need to leave coronavirus vaccine to the experts