Anti-vaxxers are urging anti-maskers to mask up as a new conspiracy theory about the COVID vaccines takes root in the anti-vaccination community.
According to Vice, the conspiracy theory says vaccinated individuals “shed” certain proteins onto the unvaccinated. These protein, they say will result in severe adverse effects including, infertility, miscarriages and altered menstrual cycles. This latest theory is an off shoot from the larger conspiracy theory that COVID-19 and the vaccines were develop to cull the population.
Anti-vax influencers like Sherri Tenpenny, are urging fellow anti-vaxxers to “stay away from somebody who’s had these shots…forever.” Other prominent anti-vaxxers like Larry Palevsky, a New York pediatrician took it a step further, arguing that vaccinated individuals should “have a badge on their arms that say ‘I’ve been vaccinated even though it’s not a vaccine’ so that we know to avoid them on the street, to not go near them anywhere in society.”
Since none of those things will happen, they are urging their fellow anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers to practice social distancing and wear a mask in public to avoid becoming infertile.
On the far-right site 4chan one user asked if they should “wear a mask around the vaccinated, because they shed the mRNA stuff?”
“I am going to be watching these vaccine shedding stories like a hawk,” another man wrote on Twitter acording to Vice. “Is my family going to need to wear masks to protect ourselves from the vaccinated?”
While the conspiracy theory has been widely debunked, it’s still picking up steam. Last month, a private school in Miami announced that it will not be allowing vaccinated faculty members to interact with students. The school’s owners cited false claims linking the vaccine to changes in women’s reproductive cycles and even suggesting that a vaccinated person can alter the menstrual cycle of an unvaccinated woman by simply being around her.
Not all anti-maskers are suddenly endorsing mask wearing, Vice noted. Others are trying to find new ways to deal with “shedding,” and make money in the process. Prominent anti-vaccination site, Natural News is promoting “pine needle tea” as the only thing that can protect the unvaccinated from these adverse effects since “a mask is useless to protect against spike protein transmission.”
