Anti-vaxx misinformation really kills
Czech folk singer Hana Horká (57) from popular folk band Asonance died after catching COVID-19 on purpose in order to start having a “free life “. Catching the virus (as she believed) would allow her to avoid needing the vaccine, leading to her celebration upon learning she had contracted the virus.
It should be noted that Horká did not fall for any conspiracy theories, she did not believe that there are nanochips in vaccines and similar nonsense which is spreading on the internet. She just thought that the Omikron mutation is not dangerous and it is more “natural” to have the disease and get the antibodies this way than to be vaccinated.
Her son, musician Jan Rek, blames her death on the stars of the Czech antivax scene – namely actor and self-proclaimed shaman Jaroslav Dušek (winner of the Erratic Boulder Award from the Czech Skeptics Club Sisyfos for “good shamanic advice for every day”) and molecular geneticist Soňa Peková (also winner of the Erratic Boulder Award, who claimed in October 2020 that “Covid-19 will really disappear by Christmas” and who collaborated with the political far right and disinformation media). Hana Horká has frequently shared Facebook posts by these two personalities.
