Anthony Fauci indicted against those who promote false information about vaccines

The epidemiologist and current anticovid advisor in the United States, Antoine Fauci felt that eradicating smallpox, a disease that caused various epidemic outbreaks in the 19th and early 20th centuries, “would have been impossible” today with the misinformation spreading across the country. vaccines.

“If we had had the rejection of the vaccines that we see in some media, I do not think it would have been possible to eradicate smallpox, “the immunologist told CNN, quoted by the AFP agency.

“We would probably still have smallpox, and we would probably still have polio in this country, if we had the type of false information which is so prevalent now, ”he added.

President Joe Biden accused the big social media operators on Friday of “killing people” by letting people move around. false information about vaccines, while the United States tries to reactivate a campaign of vaccination that slowed down.

Facebook has lambasted these criticisms, presuming it had “saved lives” with measures that allow its users to have better access to the Internet. vaccine.

Fight against different diseases

Smallpox, which killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century, more than armed conflict, was officially declared eradicated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980 thanks to a global effort to vaccination released after WWII.

Polio, officially eradicated since August 2020 from Africa thanks to the vaccine, is resistant in Asia, particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where this disease, which causes paralysis in young children, remains endemic.

The failure of the vaccination in these countries, it can be explained in particular by mistrust of rural populations and belief in conspiracy theories against Muslims.