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A Wyoming Department of Health official who is working on the state’s response to the coronavirus said last month that the pandemic and vaccine candidates were part of Communist plots to harm the United States.
Igor Shepherd, the department’s head of preparedness and countermeasures, called the coronavirus a “so-called pandemic” and said the disease and efforts to bring a vaccine to market were part of a plan to Russia and China to spread communism around the globe.
The remarks were made last month at an event hosted by the Keep Colorado Free and Open group and first surfaced this week.
The baseless claims come as the country sees an alarming increase in cases. More than 210,000 new cases of the coronavirus were identified as of Friday alone, and the total number of hospitalizations reached a new high of more than 100,000. Wyoming has seen a 12.5% increase in cases in the past week.
Shepherd has worked for the Department of Health since 2013, but does not play a leadership role in the agency’s coronavirus response, department spokeswoman Kim Deti told The Associated Press.
“Everything we have said for months and the thousands of hours of dedicated work by our staff and local partners on this response effort and our enthusiasm for the hope that vaccines offer make clear our global position. pandemic department ”. Said Deti.
Shepherd’s remarks regarding a vaccine are particularly alarming given existing public skepticism about a COVID-19 vaccine.
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