Parliamentary Hearings Worldwide Used To Spread Anti-vaccine Conspiracies

Parliamentary hearings worldwide used to spread anti-vaccine conspiracies

Paris, July 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jul, 2022 ) :Standing on the podium of the Ohio Statehouse in the United States last year, a nurse pressed a key against her neck aiming to prove that Covid vaccines make people magnetic.

The key -- like the theory -- didn't stick, instead tumbling down her neck and leading to the video of her testimony going viral.

While the nurse's failure mainly prompted derision, it was just one example of how parliamentary hearings worldwide have been weaponised to spread vaccine misinformation since the start of the pandemic.

Parliaments have hosted known conspiracy theorists, who quickly post edited videos of their testimony on social media where the prestigious platform gives them the veneer of legitimacy, experts warn.

The nurse at the Ohio Statehouse was following the lead of anti-vaxxer Sherri Tenpenny, who had earlier testified at the invitation of Republican lawmakers, and has promoted the thoroughly debunked theory that coronavirus vaccines make people magnetic.

Known spreaders of Covid-19 misinformation have addressed hearings across the United States, such as Peter McCullough, who has testified to a Texas Senate committee as well as the US Senate in Washington DC.

Such parliamentary hearings "are part of an arsenal of disinformation," said Sebastian Dieguez, a neuroscientist specialising in conspiracy theories at Switzerland's University of Fribourg.

These figures paradoxically "need the seal of legitimacy imparted by the 'system'," such as mainstream politicians and media, that they spend so much time and rejecting, he told AFP.