Anti-Vaxxers Are Wrongly Convinced Nurse Who Fainted After Receiving COVID Vaccine Is Dead
Published
A nurse who received the COVID-19 vaccine live on television has become a martyr for the anti-vaxxer movement, following false claims that she had died from the vaccine.
Tiffany Dover has had more than 22,000 comments on her Facebook page, all expressing sadness and anger at her death after receiving the vaccine.
It must be a strange time for the nurse manager, who is very much alive, yet has found herself at the centre of a major anti-vaxxer conspiracy theory spreading on social media.
The 30-year-old, who works at CHI Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of six hospital employees selected to be vaccinated live on television as the first doses of Pfizer’s vaccine were rolled out across the United States in December. While being interviewed after the event, Dover suddenly began feeling dizzy, and began to collapse to the floor while being helped by her colleagues.
As it turns out, there was a very simple explanation for the incident; Dover told reporters she suffered from an overactive vagal response – a condition which causes people to be more prone to fainting when they experience minor pain.
But in the weeks and months that followed, Dover began to receive hundreds, then thousands of comments on her Facebook and Instagram pages, all expressing their condolences and demanding answers about her death, The Daily Beast reports. Despite issuing a statement a few weeks later confirming she was alive and ‘home and doing well,’ the hospital where she works has reportedly been sent hundreds of messages asking for proof that she’s alive, with one person even demanding a hostage-style shot of Dover holding a newspaper with a recent date on it.
Family members who have attempted to persuade people that Dover is still alive have also been attacked by anti-vaxxers, with some even suggesting stalking Dover and her family, writing ‘why isn’t anyone that lives close to her figuring out where her kids go to school or where her husband works or where they live and waiting and trying to snap a picture of her coming or going?!?’
While continuing her work at the hospital, Dover has since appeared in videos shot over the past few weeks, and even featured on the front page of her local newspaper while caring for a COVID patient. But, according to The Daily Beast, the conspiracy theory claiming she died as a result of the vaccine has continued to spread on social media, even while Facebook has attempted to remove posts about her from its platforms. Reuters has also debunked the claim Dover died.
Dover and her hospital no longer comment on the conspiracy, instead preferring to focus on treating their patients and continuing the roll out of the vaccine in their community.
If you’ve been affected by coronavirus and want up to date advice, visit the Gov.uk help page here. If you need medical help call NHS 111 or visit online.
Topics: Health, Anti-Vaxxers, conspiracy theory, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Facebook
