Conspiracy theories and covid19 vaccines

THE EDITOR: At a time when conspiracy theories are commonplace, some, on the one hand, are often touted as attempts to undermine what is perceived as the “truth” on any given issue, which they may well be proven to be after objective analysis of the “fact.”

On the other hand the same can often be deemed such by those who wish to cover up the real “truth,” which may well turn out to be the case, also, after objective analysis of the “fact.”

The covid19 vaccine is a good example of how reversible such conspiracies could be. There are so many anomalies surrounding this issue, such as allegations of its possible origins in a Chinese factory in Wuhan and as part of a Chinese conspiracy to fulfil its hegemonic ambitions re world domination. And these by who else but the US, considering its traditional anti-Chinese stance – and not forgetting the counter Chinese accusation of a possible US origin in the military.

Then too there is withdrawal of US financial support of the WHO on its perceived reluctance to countenance the above because of Chinese sponsorship. Again, there is the issue of the touted impossibility of the vaccine in the short term, by Dr Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates et al renouncing the efficacy of any short-term measures like hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir.

But this would be eventually disproven by the arrival of one such vaccine last November. And with the sporadic testimonies of the varied effectiveness of the aforesaid drugs, does it not add substance to the politics of their anti-Trump stance, who predicted a vaccine’s early arrival and also their perceived ambition for a vaccine in the long term that would suit their economic interests and those of big pharma?

Evidently there is much more to the vaccine than its medical purpose and even here in TT there is already the sense of the politics of its distribution, with accusations of a middleman distributor standing in the way of a direct application to India, which would have seen the vaccine here much sooner, of “distributors” ready to charge ten times the average price and even of “charlatans” standing by to cash in.

No wonder, with the economics of the vaccine so much at the forefront, there is so much uncertainty, much of it about its true level of efficacy. And with the recent deaths of nurses both in TT and Barbados, where does this leave an already sceptical public?

And further, does an acknowledged misrepresentation of the truth of the Barbados supply help or does it now throw cold water on the otherwise concerted attempts to woo the public into taking the vaccine when it is available?

I leave those answers to you.

DR ERROL N BENJAMIN

via e-mail