His widow explains why this type of harassment cannot stand.
 | By Alexandra Sifferlin Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
The sports journalist Grant Wahl's death while covering the World Cup in Qatar resulted in shock and grief across the globe. Soon after he died, rumors and disinformation also spread widely; anti-vaxxers were quick to blame his death on the Covid-19 vaccine. |
Céline Gounder is an infectious disease doctor and epidemiologist and has been a prominent voice on the Covid-19 pandemic. She is also Wahl's widow and has been sent numerous emails and voice mail messages blaming her for his death because of her support for vaccines. In a guest essay for Opinion, Gounder describes the attacks as a "playbook I know all too well and a move I refuse to let stand." |
As Gounder details, it has become common for the anti-vaccine movement to turn people's tragedies into fodder for conspiracy. And, she argues, it's dangerous. A recent measles outbreak among children in Ohio is evidence of that. |
Though she certainly doesn't owe anyone an explanation, Gounder — who served on the Biden-Harris Transition Covid Advisory Board — is sharing the facts of her husband's passing. "Not a single qualified medical or public health expert has supported the claim that my husband died from Covid vaccination," she writes. |
She says she is channeling her grief into something productive: "protecting the public's health against those who would profit from the suffering of others." |
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