Sunderland declares war on anti-vaxxers and their 'comical' theories about covid vaccine
and live on Freeview channel 276
Sunderland City Councillors almost unanimously backed the pledge to ‘actively call out and challenge’ attempts to spread misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.
But before they could give the green light, they had to see off an attempt to water down the proposal, which one opponent described as an attempt to ‘close-down debate’.
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Hide Ad“We have to do all we can to counter the anti-vaccination movement,” said Cllr Kelly Chequer, who co-signed the motion.
“While the false claims they make are, frankly, comical, my fear is that the spread of misinformation into mainstream and social media could result in fewer people taking up the opportunity to be vaccinated and undermining the programme.”
She added: “It’s very simple, the more people protected against the virus, the less opportunity it has to get the upper hand – protecting more people is the right thing to do.”
Cllr Chequer was speaking at a meeting of the full city council, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.
It came shortly after the council was awarded £510,000 from Government to help tackle 'life-threatening' false information and boost take-up of covid vaccine.
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Hide AdHealth chiefs have previously said the vaccine roll out in Sunderland has had a ‘strong start’.
However, fears have been raised more may choose to reject offers of a vaccine as the jab is rolled out to younger age groups.
The motion, which was originally proposed by the city council’s ruling Labour Party group, was challenged by UKIP councillors.
UKIP’s Cllr Pam Mann said: “This [motion] is stating that every councillor is obliged to become morally bound to follow this action.
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Hide Ad“This is an autocratic statement which takes no account of an individual’s wishes or opinion or those of the population they represent.”
Green councillor Dom Armstrong claimed UKIP’s proposed changes to the original motion would ‘facilitate anti-vax theories’ and suggested giving councillors licence to promote such claims would be a ‘kick in the teeth’ to the NHS.
The proposed UKIP amendment was defeated by a margin of 3-62, before the original Labour motion was agreed.
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Hide AdIt also asked the Government to start providing far more easy-to-access information on the vaccine programme – and timetable – to provide families, particularly the elderly and clinically vulnerable, with the reassurance that they’ve not been forgotten.