COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories can have deadly consequences, says columnist

CAIRO: AUGUST 1 – Conspiracy theories related to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic and the use of vaccines “can have deadly consequences” as humanity struggles to keep the virus at bay, said a columnist in a recent article.

Ahmed Mahdi, a political science lecturer at the British University in Egypt, wrote in an article titled “Vaccination conspiracy theories: The goofy, the sad, and the useful” that pandemic conspiracy theories dismiss science in favor of some extreme, outlandish claims. Acceptance of such theories and acting upon them “may actually cause a delay in eradicating the virus.”