[imagesource: Twitter / @RonFilipkowski]

Vaccine hesitancy in South Africa, and across the world, remains a major stumbling block in the battle against COVID-19.

It’s a personal choice, at least for the time being, and we should respect that.

At the same time, it’s tough to respect those who aggressively and intentionally spread dangerous misinformation.

South African journalist Anena Burger lost her mother, Hermine, to COVID-19, because of a voicenote full of lies that convinced her mother to turn down the chance to get vaccinated.

That sort of story is being told, and retold, across the globe.

This week, in totally unhinged anti-vaxxer rants, we have Matt Baker from Ocean Beach, San Diego.

The Daily Beast reports that groups with names like ReOpen San Diego, Let Them Breathe, and San Diego Rise Up gathered at a San Diego County Board of Supervisors meeting to protest against any possible vaccine mandates:

[They gave] speeches demanding that the board bar employers and businesses from requiring proof of vaccination for employment or services.

A man who identified himself as Matt Baker invoked both “the wind of time” – he was whistling into the microphone – and the Nuremberg Codes in angry arguments that left him red-faced.

That’s an understatement because he really went off the deep end the longer his rant went on.

The San Diego Board of Supervisors meeting tonight featured a litany of deranged anti-vaccers, including Matt Baker. He accused them of violating the Nuremberg Code, called them Nazis with Fauci as Fuhrer, and said “your children and your children’s children will be subjugated.” pic.twitter.com/F9Kx9RHP41

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 18, 2021

As an antidote to what you’ve just heard, here are scientific answers to many of the questions people have around the vaccine.

As a further antidote, Baker is shouting about the Nuremberg Code, which is a “set of research ethics that resulted from the prosecution of Nazis after World War II” and is used to “provide clearer guidance on the rights of human subjects in scientific research”.

Let’s fact check how it applies to vaccination via USA Today:

The code does not apply to COVID-19 vaccines because they are not “experimental.” All of the COVID-19 vaccines have gone through clinical trials and emergency use authorization processes…

The claim that “forced” vaccines are against the Nuremberg Code is FALSE, based on our research. The Nuremberg Code addresses human experimentation, not vaccines approved for emergency use. Americans who get vaccinated against COVID-19 are not part of an experiment. The vaccines have been tested in clinical trials and found to be safe and effective.

It’s hardly surprising that guy in the green shirt hasn’t done his research.

Much like those misguided souls marching along the Sea Point promenade, shouting about Satanic panic and 5G and microchips, Baker isn’t contributing anything of value to what should be an open, informed conversation around COVID-19 vaccines.

[sources:dbeast&usatoday]