Siti Muslihah

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Social

vaccination

anti-vaxxers

vaccine hesitancy

minority

conspiracy theories

illuminati

freemason

microchips

vero cell

religion

The strike of global pandemic COVID-19 has produced many calls for vaccines. The situation then led to a growing concern upon the issue of vaccine hesitancy for some people which turned the world population nowadays into a &lsquo;competition&rsquo; of two major groups between the pro- and the anti-vaccination community.
This somehow has placed the anti-vaccination community under the spotlight as they opt for different thoughts and opinions regarding COVID-19 and refusal to cooperate with the vaccines call.
It is not entirely ridiculous to fear needles (or to suffer from trypanophobia for those who prefer the Greek term). Likewise, feeling anxious about injecting a foreign substance into the bloodstream seems quite reasonable.
Well, there are many cited reasons for vaccine hesitancy among the anti-vaccination community.
To list, some may argue of the Mercury content, autism association, and vaccine danger has been commonly found in anti-vaccination messages. It is also mused that the reduced disease burden from infectious diseases has paradoxically reduced the perceived requirement for vaccine uptake.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641892544/unsigned/qhn48fqztuqekgr6qz6c.gif" alt="" width="300" />
The anti-vax movement, thus, has an understandable relationship with fear and anxiety. In fact, there has been resistance to vaccinations since at least the late 18th century when the British physician Edward Jenner began to promote them as a prophylactic measure against smallpox.
One of Jenner&rsquo;s contemporaries, the caricaturist James Gillray, famously lampooned people&rsquo;s fears by imagining how cows grotesquely begin to sprout from the limbs and faces of the newly vaccinated. It was an early 19th-century version of what we today might relate to the sub-genre of body horror.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641892602/unsigned/wuwfbv2y3eaoybzfflna.jpg" alt="A satirical cartoon by James Gillray entitled, The Cow-Pock&mdash;or&mdash;the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation! published in 1802. Wikimedia Commons " width="600" height="429" />A satirical cartoon by James Gillray entitled, The Cow-Pock&mdash;or&mdash;the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!, published in 1802
Nonetheless in Malaysia, the anti-vax movement especially on social media platform (upon sharing of the fact and myth of vaccination), has been widely evolved and this community has been expressing the idea of vaccine hesitancy which is frequently related to conspiracy theories, psychological distress, and religious extremism.
So, who is right and who is not? Is it like picking side either Marvel or DC?
It is definitely a never-ending battle between these two communities (the pro- and the anti-vaxxers) in the age of SARS-CoV-2 with so many variants to catch up.
You still can catch up with MYC! apparently, but this time let us spend some time to view what exactly the Malaysian anti-vaxxers have in their mind regarding vaccine hesitancy.
Anti-Vaxxers
<img src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641892688/unsigned/n7qp2vuy3f4hseeudysr.jpg" alt="" width="786" height="524" />
At first sight, there is nothing surprising about such debate. The vaccine mandates imposed in response to the COVID pandemic are forcing some people to do something they are fearful of and would prefer not to do.
The terms vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccination are so much interwoven to each other, yet different ideas have previously been used interchangeably in the literature.
Vaccine hesitancy may be considered in current literature to be a catchall category of delayed and/or refusal of vaccine uptake and potential decision-making category.
While anti-vaccination is considered as the opinions and actions against vaccination use, which itself may be considered a downstream effect of vaccine hesitancy.
The fact that they exist as a minority in society, anti-vaxxers are hardly escaped from being regarded as a community that holds big potential to be the causal agent of COVID-19 due to their distrust in scientific expertise.
How Far Has This &lsquo;Distrust&rsquo; Evolved Among Malaysians On Social Media?
The irony behind &lsquo;falsehood and misguided information&rsquo; slammed upon the anti-vaxxers people is that most of them actually come from a solid well-educated background.
Last December, a man who claimed himself a scientist and also a Specialist in Toxicologist, Safety and Food Therapy of Malaysia argued on his Facebook post about &lsquo;suspicious&rsquo; Vero cell that contained in one of the COVID-19 vaccines and displayed on MySejahtera digital vaccination certificate.
On top of that, there is also a minority of people that see the relation of their vaccine hesitancy through the lens of conspiracy theories. Several claims including the vaccines consist microchips to control mind, Freemason and illuminati concern, and the political motive to reduce human population especially the Muslims.
The Concern of Vero Cell And Religion
<img src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641892739/unsigned/zzh15g0mtzinrxn5vsnl.png" alt="" /> 
Basically, Vero cell is a cell that is extracted from the kidney of an African green monkey.
What?! *Planet of the Apes intensified*
Referring to the image above, the man who was also a former lecturer in one of the local universities expressed his dissatisfaction against the failure of the responsible authority in providing a black-and-white proof regarding the analysis of the substance (Vero cell) inside CoronaVac (Sinovac) that has been brought in the country as prevention against the spread of coronavirus disease.
His remarks in vaccine hesitancy were that the guarantee of the &lsquo;ingredient&rsquo; (Vero cell) in the vaccine to be clean and safe not for sake of human being but also as in term of religion assurance.
&ldquo;So, does the end-product (of the vaccine) really determine whether there is or not of the monkey&rsquo;s kidney cell? The so-called &lsquo;doctors&rsquo; did claim that the vaccine has been verified its purification. But, is it really purified? Did they really do as what they have claimed? If yes, then show (us) the proof.
&ldquo;Since I am a scientist, of course I am well-acknowledge of the Vero cell and I&rsquo;ve been doing research on cell cultures using the Vero cell&hellip;But deep down, as a Muslim, you guys should know that every (substance) that enters our body will run in our blood and body.&rdquo;
Even this issue has been long approved by the Islamic scholars, he is one from many anti-vaxxers that opposed the idea of getting vaccinated due to over-concern of religion&rsquo;s sake; in between halal and haram consent of which the believer is allowed to consume and what is not as an act of worshipping the God.
To justify, many might miss the fact that there is a vaccine Fatwa (Islamic Verdict) supports the idea of vaccination where the religion of Islam views medication as a religious issue and concern, as mentioned by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) &ldquo;Make use of medical treatment, for Allah has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it.&rdquo; [Sunan Abi Dawud 3855]
Therefore, with the advises from the trusted Muslim doctors and medical experts from all around the world are taken into account, the vaccine for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is permissible as preached by the Islamic law as there is no known religious harm attributed to being vaccinated nor does it contain any forbidden substances.
The vaccine will be considered necessary if there is any possible risk of harm to other humans due to non-vaccination as there is a religious obligation to preserve human life that has been honoured by Allah the Almighty.
Conspiracy Theories
On the other hand, a common denominator that plays a big role in contributing towards the vaccine hesitancy is the penchant for viewing the world through the prism of conspiracy theories.
<img src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641894043/unsigned/ajjjwc91leujnyji56zg.png" />
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641894046/unsigned/w7fmjswo4rmbfry6naxx.png" />Several screenshots of a conversation with an anti-vaxxer who was strongly convinced that vaccination for COVID-19 is merely fake and a part from the conspiracy theories.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re Freemason and illuminati. They have planned to reduce the world population, and these (vaccination and COVID-19) are their nuclear weapons to act.&rdquo;
From the images above, the anti-vaxxer explained how this pandemic is just an act and his views against vaccination have been influenced from philosophy to psychology, where he attempted to make sense of the health crisis with the idea of illuminati.
The question here is: Why conspiracy theories out of other things?
It is because conspiracy theories claim to be based in fact &ndash; unlike myths or fables &ndash; the concept encourages us to treat them as rational and therefore refutable.
At least, this was the assumption that guided the philosopher Karl Popper when he presented two lectures in 1948 that are widely perceived as the first attempt to examine conspiracy theories philosophically.
He carried out an experiment that was designed to test if it was reasonable to imagine world events and trends as the consequence of a conspiracy (whether this is a logical concept of how society works?)
Fortunately, he found that conspiracy theories were not the case especially, debunking the allegation that secret agents were to blame for a war or an economic downturn, for example, was a method of getting closer to a true explanation of such circumstances.
How Has Falsehood Turned Malaysia Into Alienation Between Rakyat And The One Who Governs?
<img src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641894150/unsigned/eyjczkvvfqc1gu9m2xc4.png" /> 
Really bad.
With the previous tragedy of floods in the country with more than 40 of casualties recorded, many Malaysians have seemed to lose their faith in them who supposedly to run the system accordingly and effectively.
&ldquo;We often criticized the European as the &lsquo;uncivilized&rsquo; people because they were always protesting here and there against COVID-19. Nonetheless, their voices are still being heard because their governments are particular when it comes to voting.
&ldquo;Only in Malaysia that the rakyat is rather to live like a cow all their life. It is the attitude of our own people that allowed the politician to act freely upon the people as long as they still can keep their name, power, and fame. We claimed to be civilized, but we are just too &lsquo;na&iuml;ve&rsquo; (to listen to the government).&rdquo;
Many comments can be found around the online debates especially when it comes to vaccine mandates matter and the above image is one of them. The mood was dominated by anger, not anxiety.
Does This Mean That The Anti-Vaxxers Are Just Scared And They Want To Get A Grip On The World?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641894189/unsigned/rl73cmyoblkg4x2kz9zy.gif" alt="" width="350" />
Anger could lead to falsehoods and that is not impossible.
The protests against vaccine mandates, as well as previous protests against 5G technology and the growth of the QAnon (illuminati)&nbsp;movement, imply that there are other emotions at work here. These are emotions of anger, resentment, and grievance.
Added&nbsp;with few restrictions and lockdowns implemented by governments during the previous 18 months were contributing towards nothing but an absolutely splashing of the&nbsp;gasoline towards the fire, for some people.
Anger is no joke. It can make us want to lash out &ndash; to slam the door as hard as we could, to kick (some of) the politicians or even to punch off the wall even though none of these would solve the problem.
Importantly, anger also has a disinhibiting effect on our relationship to the truth. That is, when we are angry, we feel less obliged to speak truthfully and allow our emotions to take over.
Identifying a falsehood as a lie carries the risk of moralising. Same goes to stigmatising conspiracy theorists as liars will do very&nbsp;little to calm societal tensions. Easy fixes&nbsp;are hard to come by, but a start would be to understand better the anger that makes lying appear justifiable in the first place.
Now that we have learnt a bit here and there about the anti-vaxxers and how they feel towards vaccination in the COVID-19 era, and it is possible that you know at least one person in your family or any of your&nbsp;circle who has not had the vaccination because of personal preference rather than a lack of availability.
These people are frequently portrayed as fervent anti-vaxxers who voluntarily reject science &ndash; and we are sometimes reminded that any attempt to engage in a discussion with them&nbsp;is a waste of saliva.
However, in reality, many of the vaccine-hesitant are simply undecided &ndash; and scientists say talking to them can help them to appraise the evidence. And it is not just governments and health officials who can do that; it takes everyone to end the pandemic.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn1.myc.com.my/image/upload/v1641894238/unsigned/k3ljhejdhqxwbt8b3rcv.jpg" alt="" width="350" height="233" />
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With so many opinions that varied from the majorities, we need to understand how anti-vaxxers feel to make sense of their actions.

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Anti-Vaxxers & Where Are They Coming From?

Anti-Vaxxers & Where Are They Coming From?

With so many opinions that varied from the majorities, we need to understand how anti-vaxxers feel to make sense of their actions.

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