Despite widespread popular and nonpartisan support for obtaining one or more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, a number of notable personalities have spoken out against it. Several of them became infected with the virus, and several have subsequently altered their minds regarding the effectiveness of vaccines and the severity of the coronavirus. Anti-vaxxers include celebrities — and their kids — as well as pundits, now-deceased radio presenters, legislators, a Texas ‘freedom defender,’ and a former CIA operative-turned-QAnon theorist.
Some of the vocals has even sought to locate a cure in ivermectin pills after getting the ailment. The medication is used to deworm animals and has been strongly advised against ingestion by health experts. It was categorized by a toxicologist as one of the ‘magic treatments’ that are ‘being marketed on the internet,’ along with other phony therapies. Here are several celebrities who have minimized COVID-19 or its vaccination, some of whom have since been infected with the virus.
KRISTEN LOWERY: She left four children behind. Lowery, 40, was a social media star, expressing her anti-mask and anti-vaccine beliefs, which drew a lot of attention. Lowery described herself as a ‘free thinker’ who wished to ‘give a voice to the vaccination wounded’. According to the Daily Mail, she died last week in September, leaving behind four children. Lowery allegedly posted anti-vaccination information on Facebook before her death, calling herself as a ‘ex-vaxxer’.
STEPHEN HARMON, a 34-year-old Los Angeles resident, derided Covid-19 vaccinations. In June, Harmon tweeted, ‘I got 99 problems, but a vax ain’t one’. According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, he died of the virus on July 21, 2021. SHAULIAN, HAI: Hai Shaulian, a well-known Israeli anti-vaxx activist, died of COVID-19 on Monday morning (September 13, 2021) at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel. ‘There is no epidemic—the vaccination is useless and harmful,’ claimed the anti-vaccine campaigner.
DANIEL TRUJILLIO: Daniel ‘Duke’ Trujillo, 33, passed away in May due to COVID-19 complications. According to The Daily Mail, Trujillo, an ex-Marine and Denver Sheriff’s deputy shared a string of anti-vax posts on social media. On May 7, Trujillo changed the border of his Facebook profile picture to read ‘I have an immune system,’ an apparent reason for not getting vaccinated.
COOK, KALI: The four-year-old girl died after contracting COVID-19, likely from her anti-vax mother, Karra Harwood, who has never vaccinated her children. According to the mother, ‘I was part of the anti side, I was against it. Now, I wish I had never been’.
MARC BERNIER: Bernier, a talk radio host from Daytona, Florida, dubbed himself ‘Mr. Anti-Vax’ while assuring listeners that he was ‘not taking it’. Bernier contracted COVID-19 and died when his station — WNDB — acknowledged his on-air comments about vaccines just before he died.
DR. DICK FARREL: Farrel Austin Levitt, 65, a conservative media personality and anti-vaccine activist, died on November 5, 2016. The Newsmax radio host spent the last weeks of his life claiming that the vaccine is ‘Bogus B*** s**t,’ referring to the pandemic as a ‘SCAM DEMIC’, saying that the delta variant is a power-tripping lie orchestrated by Dr Anthony Fauci to keep Americans worried. During the month of August 2021, he became very ill again and died from ‘severe damage’ caused by COVID-19.
TOD TUCKER: According to his employer, Tod Tucker died on August 11, 2021 of viral pneumonia, which was the result of COVID-19. Tod Tucker was a prominent pro-Trump radio host. Tucker had previously mocked the idea of receiving the vaccine, allegedly writing on his Facebook page in March, ‘Please stop bragging about getting your COVID vaccine. What do you want us to say? ‘Congratulations lab rat?!’
JIMMY DEYOUNG SR.: DeYoung, 80, a religious radio host, was hospitalized August 7, 2021 for COVID-19 and died shortly thereafter. A segment on DeYoung’s show in which he and his guest regurgitated conspiracy theories about Pfizer using the vaccine to commit ‘mass sterilisation’ stated that the COVID-19 vaccine could be ‘another form of government control of people’.
PHIL VALENTINE, 61, a talk radio host and vaccine skeptic, bet that his odds of dying from COVID-19 were less than one percent in a blog post, saying, ‘You’re not going to kill me’. Valentine’s family reported that he was in a ‘very serious condition’ and was suffering from COVID pneumonia when he suddenly changed his view on vaccines, they said. “Phil would like his listeners to know that he regrets not being more vehemently pro-vaccine, while he has never been an ‘anti-vaxer’, his radio station 99.7 WTN said. Through CEO Mary Berner on August 11, Valentine’s employer Cumulus Media announced that all employees at Cumulus Media’s corporate headquarters must be fully vaccinated by October 11, 2021.
BOB ENYART: Enyart, 62, pastor at Denver Bible Church, passed away on Monday (September 13, 2021), according to a Facebook post by his co-host, Fred Williams. On the Real Science Radio Show website, Enyart criticized what he termed the ‘imagined’ burden COVID-19 cases would put on hospitals, offered advice on treating the virus from the Bible, and accused ‘fake news’ outlets of exaggerating its severity. In addition to declining the vaccination, Enyart also faced legal action last year over the state’s ban on coronavirus-related restrictions in places of worship because the vaccine relies on ‘aborted baby cells’. His lawsuit against capacity limits and mask mandates in churches was successful.
SAMMIE-JO FORDE & HEATHER MADDERN: The anti-vaxxer mother-and-daughter team died just days apart in a Belfast hospital after contracting Covid-19, leaving their family ‘devastated’. Sammie-Jo Forde, 32, died on Saturday (September 11, 2021) in the Ulster hospital, where she had been treated on the same ward as Heather Maddern, 55, who died on 31 August. Maddern shared a number of conspiracy theories about Covid before she died, as well as a post about nurses facing disciplinary action if they refused to take the vaccine. She also shared two videos, one from US conservative commentator Candace Owens on how to deal with being forced to be vaccinated by your employer, and one from a woman opposing child vaccinations.
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