Berliner Boersenzeitung - Vaccine misinformation spawns 'pure blood' movement

EUR -
AED 3.93368
AFN 73.196308
ALL 98.074464
AMD 416.766537
ANG 1.941015
AOA 977.270481
ARS 1071.594131
AUD 1.628371
AWG 1.927762
AZN 1.816651
BAM 1.9533
BBD 2.174517
BDT 128.69527
BGN 1.953573
BHD 0.40598
BIF 3179.729934
BMD 1.070979
BND 1.423478
BOB 7.458453
BRL 6.145167
BSD 1.077021
BTN 90.863694
BWP 14.283717
BYN 3.524489
BYR 20991.191197
BZD 2.170821
CAD 1.488907
CDF 3069.42662
CHF 0.938442
CLF 0.037215
CLP 1026.885583
CNY 7.688773
CNH 7.624616
COP 4635.366713
CRC 550.894853
CUC 1.070979
CUP 28.380947
CVE 110.124041
CZK 25.261725
DJF 191.784515
DKK 7.457013
DOP 64.856983
DZD 142.787232
EGP 52.838971
ERN 16.064687
ETB 133.34302
FJD 2.397068
FKP 0.81948
GBP 0.830538
GEL 2.913319
GGP 0.81948
GHS 17.662392
GIP 0.81948
GMD 76.575779
GNF 9284.116296
GTQ 8.325344
GYD 225.321588
HKD 8.32681
HNL 27.173218
HRK 7.378008
HTG 141.7186
HUF 407.036011
IDR 16766.017832
ILS 4.016515
IMP 0.81948
INR 90.372594
IQD 1410.794178
IRR 45080.187148
ISK 148.587184
JEP 0.81948
JMD 170.871284
JOD 0.759429
JPY 163.493568
KES 138.922179
KGS 92.320837
KHR 4373.402029
KMF 493.052018
KPW 963.880987
KRW 1497.430719
KWD 0.328437
KYD 0.897451
KZT 530.171379
LAK 23636.744878
LBP 96443.252275
LKR 315.086688
LRD 204.088766
LSL 18.846976
LTL 3.162323
LVL 0.647825
LYD 5.22631
MAD 10.635586
MDL 19.315276
MGA 4982.622225
MKD 61.536233
MMK 3478.498479
MNT 3639.187156
MOP 8.623462
MRU 42.90608
MUR 49.690666
MVR 16.546541
MWK 1867.509581
MXN 21.589822
MYR 4.693565
MZN 68.440301
NAD 18.846976
NGN 1786.478663
NIO 39.629274
NOK 11.800819
NPR 145.381911
NZD 1.798685
OMR 0.412132
PAB 1.077021
PEN 4.039729
PGK 4.323466
PHP 62.604111
PKR 299.064596
PLN 4.324486
PYG 8421.220806
QAR 3.927173
RON 4.957445
RSD 116.900573
RUB 104.997955
RWF 1476.310317
SAR 4.022585
SBD 8.932773
SCR 14.373102
SDG 644.192183
SEK 11.603566
SGD 1.420563
SHP 0.81948
SLE 24.471866
SLL 22457.893707
SOS 615.512142
SRD 37.452288
STD 22167.105955
SVC 9.423937
SYP 2690.867513
SZL 18.841882
THB 36.528421
TJS 11.448246
TMT 3.759137
TND 3.34382
TOP 2.50834
TRY 36.801519
TTD 7.318632
TWD 34.539427
TZS 2875.519324
UAH 44.46119
UGX 3941.954284
USD 1.070979
UYU 44.99241
UZS 13771.372591
VEF 3879678.207646
VES 47.816532
VND 27068.997831
VUV 127.148827
WST 3.00001
XAF 655.118446
XAG 0.03175
XAU 0.000394
XCD 2.894375
XDR 0.807466
XOF 655.118446
XPF 119.331742
YER 267.557346
ZAR 18.87959
ZMK 9640.092477
ZMW 29.32047
ZWL 344.854847
  • RBGPF

    61.4000

    61.4

    +100%

  • RELX

    0.3200

    47.98

    +0.67%

  • NGG

    -0.3600

    63.94

    -0.56%

  • SCS

    0.0600

    13.14

    +0.46%

  • GSK

    -0.3700

    36.29

    -1.02%

  • CMSC

    0.1600

    24.84

    +0.64%

  • BTI

    -0.0100

    35.39

    -0.03%

  • RYCEF

    0.0100

    7.15

    +0.14%

  • CMSD

    0.2350

    25.125

    +0.94%

  • RIO

    -3.0400

    64.43

    -4.72%

  • BP

    -0.8800

    28.93

    -3.04%

  • BCC

    1.4700

    142.32

    +1.03%

  • VOD

    -0.0100

    9.31

    -0.11%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    13.53

    +1.18%

  • BCE

    0.3000

    28.37

    +1.06%

  • AZN

    -0.2000

    64.49

    -0.31%

Vaccine misinformation spawns 'pure blood' movement
Vaccine misinformation spawns 'pure blood' movement / Photo: Chris Delmas - AFP

Vaccine misinformation spawns 'pure blood' movement

Vaccine skeptics blocking transfusions for life-saving surgeries, Facebook groups inciting violence against doctors and a global search for unvaccinated donors -- Covid-19 misinformation has bred a so-called "pure blood" movement.

Text size:

The movement spins anti-vaccine narratives focused on unfounded claims that receiving blood from people inoculated against the coronavirus "contaminates" the body.

Some have advocated for blood banks that draw from "pure" unvaccinated people, while medics in North America say they have fielded requests from people demanding transfusions from donors who have not received the jab.

In closed social media groups, vaccine skeptics -- who brand themselves as "pure bloods" -- promote violence against doctors administering coronavirus jabs alongside false claims of mass deaths of vaccinated people.

Taking the hysteria to the next level was the recent high-profile case of a New Zealand couple, who sought to block life-saving heart surgery of their infant on the grounds that any blood transfused could have come from a vaccinated donor.

Their stance prompted a New Zealand court to take temporary custody of the baby to allow the procedure, but the case became a cause celebre among vaccine skeptics around the world.

"Cases like this spread like wildfire on both fringe and mainstream news sites and then social media, providing attention for anti-vaccine conspiracy theories," Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, told AFP.

"There is absolutely no science behind these conspiracies. If you give blood from a vaccinated donor to an unvaccinated person, the person receiving the transfusion does not become vaccinated."

- 'Profitable falsehoods' -

George Della Pietra, a Swiss naturopath founded Safe Blood Donation, a global mediation service that falsely labels mRNA coronavirus vaccines a "health threat" and seeks to connect unvaccinated blood donors with recipients.

The Zurich-based nonprofit offers to obtain "fresh or canned" unvaccinated blood for its patrons, according to Safe Blood's website, which says it has a presence across western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia and Africa.

AFP's email to Pietra requesting comment elicited a reply from Safe Blood's media director.

"There are a large number of scientists and doctors who not only have great concerns about the Covid vaccines, but are convinced that they also enter the body via the blood through the back door, so to speak, and remain there," wrote Clinton Ohlers, the media director, quoting from the website.

That directly contradicts scientific assertions.

"Blood donations from individuals who have received a Covid-19 vaccine are safe for transfusion," Jessa Merrill, from the American Red Cross, told AFP.

"Similar to other vaccines... the Covid-19 vaccine is designed to generate an immune response to help protect an individual from illness, but vaccine components themselves are not found within the bloodstream."

Safe Blood's members are required to pay an initial joining fee of 50 euros ($54), followed by 20 euros each subsequent year, according to its website.

"The 'safe blood' movement is absolutely based 100 percent in anti-vaccine misinformation," said Wallace.

"As with all anti-vaccine misinformation, appealing to people's fears is sadly profitable."

- Sperm and breast milk -

The demand to remain "pure" reaches beyond blood to social media posts soliciting sperm from unvaccinated men -- conspiracy theorists speculate online that the precious commodity will be the "next Bitcoin" -- as well as breast milk from unvaccinated mothers.

These requests appear to stem from belief in the debunked claims that Covid vaccines can cause infertility or alter the human DNA.

Demand for "unvaccinated" blood is unclear, but experts say it would be a challenge to procure it in countries with high vaccination rates.

The Food and Drug Administration in the United States, where more than 80 percent of the population has received at least one Covid jab, says it does not require blood collectors to test for vaccination status.

Hospitals are also not able to inform the status of donated blood to patients.

"Is the US blood supply tainted?" screamed a headline from Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit founded by Robert Kennedy Jr, a known purveyor of vaccine misinformation.

It falsely asserted that the country's vaccination campaign may have "contaminated the country's blood supply."

An AFP reporter who infiltrated one of the closed "pure bloods" Facebook groups found posts vilifying doctors administering vaccines as "an arm of the state."

Other posts contained a cartoon image of a nurse holding a syringe and standing in a field full of skulls, and another of "victims" tumbling out of a vaccine bottle in crutches and wheelchairs.

Another post contained a video of a shirtless muscular man headbutting and smashing a car window in what was claimed to be a public outburst against vaccines.

burs-ac/bgs/mlm

(T.Renner--BBZ)