Right-wing zealots sow distrust, fear about vaccines

One likely explanation for Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s stubborn refusal to urge Alaskans to get vaccinated is that he is running for reelection and he doesn’t want to offend right-wing zealots like Charlie Pierce and Joel Davidson by forcefully pushing vaccines.

Pierce is the mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough and the former manager of a gas utility. He has no training in public health or medicine, but he has consumed enough crackpot claims about COVID-19 that he wants people to take a deworming drug for farm animals.

“I think even those folks on the far left that think that the right way to do this is just to mask up, stay at home, social distance, get the vaccine — force vaccine, force vaccination on everybody — but you know what? America wasn’t built that way,” says Pierce,

Eight doctors and nurse practitioners responded in a letter to the Kenai paper saying that Pierce was spouting nonsense.

“We appreciated the comments made by Soldotna City Council member Justin Ruffridge, who has been a true leader in our community in the response to COVID. The COVID vaccine is safe and is the best defense we have in combatting this virus and we strongly encourage our patients and the rest of the community to discuss any questions or concerns that they have with their health care providers,” they said.

Davidson runs the Alaska Watchman website, where every right-wing fantasy finds a happy home, including a steady stream of anti-vaccination propaganda.

On Feb. 2, Davidson published a story saying that five Alaskans had died and 111 had adverse reactions after getting the COVID vaccine. The dead were ages 73 and older.

Davidson, who has worked as a reporter in Palmer and as editor of the Catholic Anchor, has no training in public health or medicine.

He took offense when the Anchorage Daily News published a solid story saying that no one in Alaska had died from getting the vaccine. Davidson attacked the Daily News and started quibbling for all he was worth.

It’s hard to believe, but Davidson said he never claimed that there was a relationship between the vaccines and the adverse reactions and deaths.

He claimed he never made a “conclusive link between the deaths and the vaccine.”

The hedge word there is “conclusive.”

The first paragraph of his original story said, “Within the first five weeks of administering COVID vaccines in Alaska, at least 111 Alaska residents have suffered adverse reactions and at least five of these people have died.”

Any honest reading of Davidson’s words and the headline above it, “At least five Alaskans died and 111 suffered adverse reactions after COVID vaccines,” shows that he suggested a link between getting the shot and suffering an adverse reaction that led to five deaths. When called on it, he couldn’t admit that he was wrong.

Had he wanted to really tell readers that there was no “conclusive link” between the vaccines and the deaths, he would have mentioned that in his original story, but he didn’t.

Davidson continues to spread misinformation about vaccines, creating doubt and fear. Two of his latest screeds are headlined, “How to seek compensation for injuries from licensed vaccines” and “Misleading statements claim Alaskans are getting ‘fully approved’ vaccine.”

Davidson falsely claims the vaccines have “known serious side effects,” but he is the kind of guy, like Pierce, that Dunleavy won’t directly contradict because the Dunleavy base would not approve.

Like many opponents of vaccination, Davidson calls the vaccines “experimental,” suggesting that corners have been cut. A recent column by Dr. Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins says the use of that word is part of the general flood of misinformation.

“The ‘experiments’ — if one can describe meticulously monitored clinical trials in this manner — have been completed in adults and children above the age of 12. Billions of doses have gone into the arms of people worldwide. The evidence of the efficacy and safety demonstrated unequivocally in the trials is evident,” Adalja wrote.

The COVID vaccines prevented about 140,000 deaths in the United States in the first five months they were available, a new study finds.

There are about 140 people hospitalized with COVID in Alaska hospitals now. Most are unvaccinated.

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