An anti-vaccination couple who refuse a transfusion for a rescue operation for fear of contamination, an organization that brings together unvaccinated donors: misinformation about Covid-19 has given rise to a so-called “pure blood” movement.
The movement spreads conspiracy theories that receiving transfusions from people vaccinated against Covid “contaminates” the blood. However, these theories are not based on “any scientific evidence,” Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told AFP.
calls to violence
This does not prevent Internet users from speaking out in favor of creating blood banks dedicated to people who have not received an injection, a request that was also received by doctors in North America.
Recently, a New Zealand couple opposed life-saving surgery for their baby, fearing he would receive blood from a vaccinated donor. A court temporarily removed custody of the child to allow prosecution, but the case has become iconic for anti-vaccine activists.
In private groups on social media, advocates of this “pure blood” are calling for violence against caregivers who vaccinate, while falsely claiming that those who are immune are dying en masse.
The images published in one of these groups show, for example, a nurse holding a syringe in the middle of a field strewn with skulls, said an AFP journalist who went undercover.
One Zurich, Switzerland-based organization, Safe Blood Donation, is even seeking to connect unvaccinated donors and recipients. The association, founded by a Swiss naturopath, George Della Pietra, promises on its site to obtain blood for its clients. He says that it is present in Western Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.
“Many scientists and doctors have a lot of concerns about covid vaccines, and they are also convinced that they enter the body through the bloodstream, indirectly, one could say, and stay there,” an official told AFP. Safe Blood Donation, Clinton. ohlers. A statement diametrically opposed to scientific knowledge.
The components of the vaccine “do not end up in the bloodstream,” he adds. Safe Blood Donation members must pay a €50 entry fee, then a €20 annual subscription, according to their site.
“The ‘safe blood’ movement is 100% based on misinformation about vaccines,” says epidemiologist Katrine Wallace. “And appealing to people’s fears is unfortunately profitable.”
The search for so-called “purity” is not limited to blood. On social media, posts aim to find unvaccinated people’s breast milk, or even sperm, the “next Bitcoin,” the cabalists predict.
It’s hard to estimate the number of people looking for “unvaccinated” blood, but experts say finding it would still be challenging in countries with high vaccination rates.
In the United States, where more than 80% of the population has received at least one dose, the health authorities explain that they do not ask donors to undergo a test of vaccination status. Hospitals cannot communicate this information to patients when it comes to donating blood.
Source: BFM TV
