Coronavirus forces anti-vaxxers to rethink their dangerous beliefs

• Conspiracy theories, unproven claims, fake news, and junk science have all proliferated during the coronavirus pandemic, leading many to attack coronavirus vaccine development when in fact that might be the only thing that eventually saves us from the virus.
• There's evidence, however, that the nature of the current global COVID-19 crisis is causing many anti-vaxxers to re-evaluate their dangerous beliefs.
• Visit BGR's homepage for more stories.

The novel coronavirus pandemic may be having a surprising effect on the wildly misguided anti-vaccination movement that's based on a dangerous cocktail of junk science, outlandish conspiracy theories, and outright lies: Some of the anti-vaxxers, it seems, seem to now be less inclined to oppose vaccines as a result of the deadly COVID-19 virus that spreads with frightening ease and is an order of magnitude more lethal than the flu.

At any rate, that's the conclusion of a new 18-month study of polling data as well as online chatter related to vaccines conducted by the Vaccine Confidence Project. According to Heidi Larson, the director of the London-based organization, the online posts (including more than 3 million a day between January and March that were analyzed) on balance seem to suggest that most people are "eager for a coronavirus vaccine, and as soon as possible" -- which should unquestionably win an award for the understatement of the year.

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Coronavirus forces anti-vaxxers to rethink their dangerous beliefs originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 21 Apr 2020 at 23:15:21 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.