The epidemiological situation in Montenegro and the world is much more favorable, but conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and vaccines against covid-19 still find their way to hundreds of thousands of social network users.
Misinformation regarding the virus is almost the same as at the beginning of the pandemic, but for a year and a half, since mass vaccination began and until today, unfounded claims that vaccines cause various diseases, including AIDS, but also death, prevail on social networks.
One of the latest misinformation that anti-vaxxers have spread online is that the United Kingdom prohibits vaccination of pregnant women, which was denied by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on September 1. In that country, vaccination of pregnant women is not mandatory, but it is recommended.
Anti-vaxxers link every death to the vaccine
The editor-in-chief of the Raskrinkavanje.me portal, Darvin Murić, says that the number of posts on social networks that present misinformation regarding the covid-19 pandemic has varied over the past two years.
"It always increased with the new wave of the pandemic, that is, as the number of people infected with the coronavirus grew, so did the number of untrue announcements about the virus and the vaccine. Nevertheless, even now that the epidemiological situation is much more favorable both in our country and in the world, conspiracy theories about the virus and the vaccine still find their way to tens, even hundreds of thousands of users of social networks", points out Murić.
He claims that similar conspiracy theories are still circulating as in the previous two years, with the exception of the appearance that many deaths were completely baselessly linked to the vaccine.
"Almost no one could die in peace. Whoever died a month, half a year, or a year after being vaccinated, conspiracy theorists vociferously claimed that the cause of death was the vaccine, regardless of whether the person who died was 20 or 85 years old. I would like to note that such claims are always made out of hand, without any proof. Celebrities were especially targeted, above all athletes, whose every health problem the anti-vaxxers blamed on the covid vaccine, ignoring the denials and scientific evidence," says Murić.
Chipping, Ivermectin and other conspiracy theories
The very beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, was marked by the claims of conspiracy theorists that the virus does not exist and that it is an ordinary flu.
"Although we could all see with our own eyes and in cases in our personal and social environment that the virus takes a large number of lives. As the pandemic progressed, the theories became, shall we say, more imaginative. From the fact that Bill Gates wants to microchip us through vaccination, to deliberately working to reduce the population, to the fact that the covid tests are 'fixed' in order to manipulate the number of infected people", reminds Murić.
He says that it is interesting that the anti-vaxxer movement claimed at the same time that the virus does not exist, but also that the infection can be cured with Ivermectin and quack methods.
"At the moment when mass vaccination began, claims that the vaccine is harmful to the human body also began. They came up with crazy ideas that after vaccination, metal objects could be stuck to the body and emit a bluetooth signal, so that, finally, it would come to the fact that the vaccine causes various diseases and even death", Murić points out.
The vaccine does not cause AIDS, heart attacks and impotence
Some of the misinformation that anti-vaxxers published this year in Montenegro and the region is that vaccines affect libido and potency, cause AIDS, and lead to heart attacks.
The website vaccine.ba, whose work is supported by UNICEF and USAID in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and which is edited by biological and scientific journalist Jelena Kalinić, presents evidence that refutes these falsehoods.
"Claims that vaccines/vaccines against covid-19 can cause AIDS are false, not based on common sense and scientific evidence and serve to spread fear of these vaccines. Approved vaccines against COVID-19 do not contain HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, but are based on the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19.
In another author's article, Kalinić states that the safety monitoring of vaccines/vaccines against covid-19 so far show that these vaccines do not cause swelling, nor inflammation of the testicles, nor reduce sexual desire and disrupt male hormones.
As Dr Emma Duncan, Professor of Clinical Endocrinology at King's College London, said, 'Male fertility and the COVID-19 vaccine have been studied for mRNA vaccines and there is no evidence that vaccination/vaccination affects sperm count or motility or male fertility. There is evidence that men who recover from moderately severe COVID-19 have reduced sperm quality even 1-2 months after the disease, compared to men who have a mild or asymptomatic infection," explains Kalinić.
The myth that vaccines cause heart attacks, for which there is no scientific evidence, is also debunked in detail on the vaccine.ba website. Namely, it is true that mRNA vaccines can cause myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle, the most common cause of which is a viral infection) and pericarditis (inflammation of the heart tissue), but these are very rare side effects.
Education is impossible when statesmen do not respect the measures
The new waves of the coronavirus, despite the increase in the number of anti-vaxxer posts, were accompanied by a greater interest of citizens in immunization.
The Institute for Public Health announced that the number of people vaccinated increased from the beginning of July to the middle of August, due to the increase in the number of new cases, after which a decrease in the number of people coming for vaccination was again registered. By the end of August, 45 percent of the population in Montenegro received two doses of the vaccine, and about 1.600 citizens received the fourth booster dose.
Murić believes that the IJZ, as a key body in the fight against the pandemic, actively participated in the educational campaign, but did not have enough support from the rest of the system.
"Certainly, what can and must be criticized is the irresponsible attitude of state officials, from the Parliament to the Government, who we have seen in the Parliament and the Government, in an age when wearing a mask and keeping a distance were prescribed for citizens, recklessly violate everything that the state is prescribed. A special story is the former prime minister who refused to be vaccinated and his claims about the strange increase in the number of antibodies, as well as the fact that the president of the country did not get vaccinated publicly and thus sent a message to the citizens that it was the right move," Murić points out.
He said that it is impossible to have a successful educational and informational campaign in conditions where the mandatory wearing of a mask indoors is ignored by everyone - from citizens to the top of the state.
This article was produced with financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and publishers of the Media Institute of Montenegro and does not necessarily reflect the views of the donors.
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