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ELon Musk shares vaccine-denying meme, gets slammed on X: How dare you trivialise deaths?

Musk, who earlier claimed his third vaccine shot nearly landed him in the hospital, came under severe criticism from several X users.

Published on: Oct 2, 2023, 13:00:38 IST
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Elon Musk, founder of X (formerly known as Twitter), came under fire by several X users for sharing a meme that bordered on vaccine denialism. Musk shared a meme on X which said: “Imagine you have a vaccine so safe, you have to be threatened to take it, for a disease so deadly you have to be tested to know about it.”

Elon Musk under fire on X
Elon Musk under fire on X

Musk, who earlier claimed his third vaccine shot nearly landed him in the hospital, came under severe criticism from several X users, including doctors who felt his meme was deeply insensitive to those who had lost their families to Covid.

One X user wrote: “A disease so deadly you have to be tested to know you have it”. You know they have to test for cancer too right.” Another pointed out: “Other diseases you have to be tested for to know if you’ve got it; Cancers, HIV/AIDS and Coronary Heart Disease.”

A third, claiming to be an NHS doctor said: “Hi Elon. NHS palliative care doctor here. I cannot begin to count the number of people I witnessed suffocating to death from Covid-19. How dare you trivialise their deaths, their families’ grief, & the trauma experienced by frontline staff?”

Another user, whose bio seemed to indicate he was a doctor, wrote: “Oh good our Meme Lord with the cowboy hat on backwards is showing how "middle of the road he is," sharing outright antivaxxine stuff. Btw, other deadly illnesses that require testing to uncover: Cancer Thromboembolisms Kidney disease Aneurysms.”

Another wondered: “He’s now a vaccine sceptic? How long will it take him to become a climate denying electric car guy?”

Earlier, Musk claimed that a third shot almost landed him in the hospital, he said: “My concern was more the outrageous demand that people *must* take the vaccine and multiple boosters to do anything at all. That was messed up. As for myself, I got original Covid before the vaccine was out (mild cold symptoms) and had to get three vaccines for travels. The third shot almost sent me to [the] hospital."

He had added: “It's not like I don't believe in vaccines - I do. However, the cure cannot be potentially worse than the disease. And public debate over efficacy should not be shut down.

According to the US CDC, the Covid-19 vaccine has some side-effects the most common being pain and swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headache, chills, or muscle aches. In rarer cases, some recipients suffered from myocarditis or pericarditis, the inflammation of the heart muscle or its outer lining. Normally, the condition heals on its own but might require further care for some individuals.

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