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Vaccines are a way to sterilize, depopulate or track the existing population
In general, conspiracy theories tend to become more prominent when people feel threatened or fear a loss of control, because the theories allow people to cope with threatening events by focusing blame on a set of presumed conspirators.
Not everyone who engages in conspiratorial rhetoric is a firm believer in a conspiracy. Sometimes conspiracy theories are used as a rhetorical tool to escape inconvenient conclusions. For example, some people will allude to a conspiracy among scientists to explain away a scientific consensus they oppose, such as climate change, but the same people will not do so when a scientific consensus is of no relevance to their personal attitudes. In general, debunking is easier with individuals who adopt conspiratorial rhetoric only for convenience.
However, some individuals are deeply committed to their conspiratorial beliefs, which may have become part of their identity. Debunking is much more challenging with those committed individuals. People who are committed believers tend to be devoted to more than one conspiracy theory.
Belief in multiple conspiracies (that COVID is a hoax and that the government is hiding people killed by the vaccine) is therefore a good indicator of beliefs that are probably deeply held. In addition, people who are committed believers also tend to exhibit other diagnostic attitudes and attributes. For example, people high on narcissism are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, as are people who engage in magical thinking (e.g., claim to have experience with the supernatural) and are high in Machiavellianism (and hence low in trust).
The variables that drive belief in conspiracy theories tend to be emotional in nature and revolved around fears and a sense of loss of control.
This theme claims that vaccines are a way to keep the population under control. There are two variants:
In the first variant, vaccines are claimed to control population numbers through depopulation or genocide. This may be by making people weak, causing infertility or sterilisation, or affecting one’s sexual performance, or acting as birth control, or by use as bioweapons.
In the second variant, vaccination is used to control or track behaviour, for example by installing microchips, causing dependence on medication or creating a ‘New World Order’ (with Bill Gates often blamed as the instigator).
There are several historical cases in which authoritarian governments have violated informed consent and privacy to sterilize or track a group of people—for example, in the United States and Germany during the first half of the 20th century. It is understandable that people would want to be alert to any type of violation of their rights, especially when it comes to medical interventions in which they trust their doctor. Fertility and sexual performance are important aspects of people’s lives and it is reasonable to worry about whether these might be affected by any medical treatment.
Dialogue between patients and healthcare professionals is most productive if it is guided by empathy, and an opportunity for the patient to affirm the reasons underlying their attitudes and to express understanding for that. That’s why it is important to understand the attitude roots behind people’s overt opinions. To affirm a person’s underlying attitude root does not mean we need to agree with the specifics of their argument. For example, we can acknowledge that:
There are several historical cases in which authoritarian governments have violated informed consent and privacy to sterilize or track a group of people—for example, in the United States and Germany during the first half of the 20th century. It is understandable that people would want to be alert to any type of violation of their rights, especially when it comes to medical interventions in which they trust their doctor. Fertility and sexual performance are important aspects of people’s lives and it is reasonable to worry about whether these might be affected by any medical treatment.
Vaccines are a safe way to protect yourself from diseases and severe illness. There are many professionals involved in the clinical testing of vaccine safety. Vaccines do not affect fertility or sexual performance. Any side effects that do occur are reported transparently. In many countries, those reporting sites are public and open to anyone.
Whenever any safety concerns are raised, regulatory agencies take them very seriously and may even pause administering a vaccine –as happened in 2021 in younger age groups in the UK with the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19.
Vaccines aren’t going to sterilise, depopulate or track the existing population as they are only approved if safe and effective.
In general, conspiracy theories tend to become more prominent when people feel threatened or fear a loss of control, because the theories allow people to cope with threatening events by focusing blame on a set of presumed conspirators.
Not everyone who engages in conspiratorial rhetoric is a firm believer in a conspiracy. Sometimes conspiracy theories are deployed as a rhetorical tool to escape inconvenient conclusions. For example, some people selectively appeal to a conspiracy among scientists to explain away a scientific consensus they oppose, such as climate change, but the same people will not do so when a scientific consensus is of no relevance to their personal attitudes. In general, debunking is easier with individuals who deploy conspiratorial rhetoric only for convenience.
However, some individuals are deeply committed to their conspiratorial beliefs, which may have become part of their identity. Debunking is much more challenging with those committed individuals. People who are committed believers tend to be devoted to more than one conspiracy theory. Belief in multiple conspiracies (that COVID is a hoax and that the government is hiding people killed by the vaccine) is therefore a good indicator of beliefs that are probably deeply held. In addition, people who are committed believers also tend to exhibit other diagnostic attitudes and attributes. For example, people high on narcissism are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, as are people who engage in magical thinking (e.g., claim to have experience with the supernatural) and are high in Machiavellianism (and hence low in trust). The variables that drive belief in conspiracy theories tend to be emotional in nature and revolved around fears and a sense of loss of control.