4 In 5 Britons Say Anti-Vaxers Should Face Prosecution

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Four in five Britons say people who spread fake news about vaccines should face prosecution

*Survey found over half believe a vaccine produced in records time can be safe
*It follows concerns over anti-vax lies hampering mass rollout of Covid vaccine
*Two Labour MPs say that online groups have been churning out disinformation

15 November 2020

Four out of five Britons want those who spread fake news about vaccines to face prosecution.

A survey of 2,000 people by ORB International for The Sunday Telegraph found more than half believe that a vaccine produced in record time can be safe.

Those questioned were more likely to respond positively when asked to take a vaccine to protect their friends and family than to safeguard themselves.

It follows growing concern that conspiracy theories and lies peddled by so-called anti-vaxxers could hamper any mass rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine.

This weekend, Labour called for social media firms which fail to ‘stamp out dangerous anti-vaccine content’ to be subject to financial and criminal penalties.

In a letter to the Government, Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth and Jo Stevens say online groups with hundreds of thousands of members are churning out disinformation.

According to The Observer, they have offered to provide support for any vote in the Commons if the Government agrees to work with Labour on new legislation.

Source:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8950237/Four-five-Britons-say-people-spread-fake-news-vaccines-face-prosecution.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed_mobile_femail

Are we not suspect of these new vaccines?

Pfzier annouced 90% effective 7 days later. SEVEN DAYS?

" placebo indicates a vaccine efficacy rate above 90%, at 7 days after the second dose".
https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-relea ... te-against

How effective after 14 days? 1 month?

I am not taking it if it's only good for a short time.

They didn’t say it’s only effective for 7 days.

Sounds like a good bridge to making it illegal to refuse the vaccine.

Spreading false information about vaccinations that save millions of lives? Damn straight they should be prosecuted! What if somebody spread lies about life saving surgeries? That certainly wouldn't be tolerated!

Forcing people to take vaccines is a violation of human rights. It's literally tyranny. Covid-19 kills what, 1-2% of the people it infects? Smallpox and the Plague death rates were far higher.

I worry about dodgy definitions.

If someone is voicing sensible concerns, such as from a scientific or medical perspective where corporate monetary interests have blown past important stages of clearance, critics of that type shouldn't be lumped into this category as it's closer to whistle blowing. If it's out-and-out conspiracy theory of the Covid and 5G type then you need to get a fix what definitions would be limited or contained enough not to spread out from vaguery and have unintended consequences.

In the US back when New Thought was a huge thing, ie. early 20th century, there were some fraud trials that came down to assessing whether the defendants genuinely believed what they were saying or were using such things to cynical ends and if it was the later there was grounds for the suit. That could be a reasonable starting point here as well.

That's obviously for public figures and 'thought leaders' who are trying to throw their heft into these things. As for individuals refusing to take a vaccine - there's a game theory trap with that where the best of all worlds is to let other people take it, profit from their immunity, and wait until you've seen whether it was completely safe. To curb that in the case of a pandemic I could see there being a small fine, not large enough to make it mandatory for poor people and no one else but still large enough to be a disincentive for doing that. Prosecuting thought leaders for gross negligence is one thing, prosecuting individuals for abstaining from a vaccine alone doesn't seem like it would be a good idea.

Jesus Christ! 1-2% is 330,000 to 660,000 needless deaths in the US. The actual mortality rate is under that—but there’s still much death in COVID.

Try being a nurse, doctor, CNA, orderly in a hospital full of COVID patients dying.

They DID something about Smallpox and the Plague. Why shouldn’t they do the same thing for COVID?

Stop with the anti-vaxxer crapolony! It’s selfish and just wrong.

I don’t think they should be prosecuted. It’s an opinion borne out of ignorance—but not criminal. Not allowing unvaccinated kids in school is enough.

It doesn't infect the entire population. According to worldometer it's infected 55 million out of over 7.5 billion out of which only 1% are serious/critical. And out of all that there have been 1.3 million deaths worldwide attributed to Covid-19. Which from what I understand some experts consider to be a conflated number.

That's not an anti-vaxer statement. Or a Kool-aid statement. It's just a statement of available facts.

I can fully understand anti-waxers… that stuff has to hurt!

oh, wait… I read it wrong. It was "v", not "w"…

If so, one has to take into account not only the fatalities from COVID-19, but also the economic costs. If a country fails to vaccinate a sufficient portion of its population against COVID when this becomes available, then other countries would likely maintain travel restrictions against that country. This could be devastating to the tourism industry, for instance.

And I wouldn't be surprised if airlines, ships etc. would make proof of vaccination against COVID-19 mandatory for travel.

those four in five?

The idea that proof of vaccination will be required do things such as travel or hold a job etc is very concerning to many.