So last week I did a story called The Conspiracy
Theorists Are Winning.
And in that story, I explained that even with
only a small percentage of support for some
of these wild conspiracy theories about Corona
virus vaccination or Bill Gates or the virus
or whatever.
It's more than enough to wreak havoc and cause
chaos and prevent the greater population at
large from dealing with the virus in the most
logical and efficient way possible.
And that part of it happens because the mere
introduction of some of these conspiracy theories
can sometimes take over media outlets.
It can start to occupy time where we're hearing
about conspiracy theories, even if they are
being debunked rather than hearing from medical
experts and public health officials and the
like.
And so what has happened is that the conspiracy
theories have gotten just enough pickup in
the general public and in media that they
are very successfully creating a distraction
from actual science based discussions about
what we are dealing with in a global pandemic.
I underestimated how bad it's gotten.
We now have a new poll from Yahoo!
News and YouGov, which actually connects belief
in these conspiracy theories to how it's going
to affect us in dealing with the virus over
the long term.
And the numbers are horrifying.
So I'll give you some of the data.
44 percent of Republicans believe that Bill
Gates is planning to use a corona virus vaccine
as a pretext to implant microchips in billions
of people and monitor their movements.
Now, what's hilarious about that is everybody's
carrying around a phone with g._p._s and there
are much simpler ways.
If one believed that this was ultimately the
goal of people like Bill Gates, there are
much simpler ways than microchipping them
with injectable microchips under the guise
of a corona virus vaccine.
But they seem to not care about that or not
know about that or whatever.
Now, I really want you to not fall short of
understanding this insanity.
Nearly half of all Republicans think Bill
Gates wants to microchip people with a corona
virus vaccine.
That's if you went to many psychiatrists with
that belief, they would medicate you for paranoid
delusions.
It's as simple as that.
Now, shockingly, even 19 percent of Democrats
believe the same conspiracy theory.
And I've told you before, you know, anti-vax
or non-sense exists on both left and right.
Typically, for different reasons, you're right
wing anti-vaxxers tend to be motivated by
distrust of government.
Government is going to make me get a vaccine
or manipulate my my brain chemistry with a
vaccine or whatever.
The left wing anti-vaxxers often are sort
of motivated by distrust of pharmaceutical
companies, but they often end up believing
very, very similar nonsense.
These beliefs are very stratified around corona
virus by political ideology.
So, for example, among those who say they
mostly get their news from Fox News, 50 percent
believe Bill Gates and the microchip conspiracy
theory.
Forty four percent of those who voted for
Trump believe the Bill Gates micro-chipped
conspiracy theory.
However, only 15 percent of MSNBC viewers
believe the Bill Gates microchip conspiracy
theory.
Only twelve percent of Hillary Clinton voters
believe it.
So two important things here.
First of all, this is not a disagreement over,
I don't know, is taxing the rich good or bad
for the economy?
This is not a theoretical debate about should
the constitution be interpreted, interpreted
for modern times or only literally as it was
written in the 18th century.
OK, this is a medically consequential, lethal
belief that some people hold.
It is very partisan.
It is very one sided.
One side has science on their side.
The other side does not.
This is not a joke.
This is not a drill.
This is really where we are right now.
There is one side, Fox News viewers, Trump
voters, Republicans that believe this absolute
trash to an alarming degree.
Now the repercussions.
Hillary Clinton voters are 30 points more
likely to get vaccinated or to say they are
going to get vaccinated than are Trump voters.
Understand those numbers.
Seventy two percent of Hillary voters say
they will get the vaccine when it is out.
Only 44 percent of Trump voters say they will
get the corona virus vaccine if and when it
is available.
So in total right now, when you blend Hillary
and Trump voters and all that stuff.
Only 50 percent of the country right now says
they plan to get the corona virus vaccine.
Why is that a horrifying number?
Because it's not enough for herd immunity
bait based on.
So the required herd immunity is based on
the reproduction rate of the virus.
Measles is so contagious that it's believed
to require between a ninety two and ninety
five percent vaccination or immunity rate
to get herd immunity.
Corona virus is less contagious than measles,
but we believe you need 70 percent vaccination
and immunity to have herd immunity if only
50 percent get the vaccine.
You need another 20 percent of the country
to be infected and recover to get immunity.
That would translate to roughly six hundred
thousand additional deaths from that group
that will not get vaccinated.
Once the vaccine is available.
Those are horrifying, horrifying numbers,
by the way.
Again, I don't want to ignore this before
moving on.
A lot of the same people who will potentially
not get a vaccine that could save their life
or the life of another because they think
Bill Gates is going to microchip them to track
their movement.
They uncritically carry around a phone which
has their location data, knows their interactions
with products and brands, their preferences,
gives them a tailored and customized series
of ads likely to manipulate their purchasing
behavior.
But they're worried Bill Gates will do this
roundabout thing of getting a corona virus
vaccine that will let them be microchip.
We'll let Bill Gates microchip them so he
can track them.
It's crazy.
It's crazy.
And it is very, very much split among partisan
lines.
