Hollywood actress Letitia Wright is facing backlash from fans and followers after sharing anti-vaccination propaganda.
On Thursday, Wright posted a video to Twitter that made unsubstantiated claims about coronavirus vaccines. Fans and followers swiftly rebuked her for being “irresponsible” and “reckless.”
Among those calling her out was “Avengers: Endgame” co-star Don Cheadle, who labeled the video “hot garbage,” saying that he would “never defend anybody posting this.”
Wright said she was not against taking a vaccine but simply wanted to ask questions. “I’m just concerned about what’s in it, that’s all,” she initially wrote on Twitter.
On Friday, the Guyanese-born star defended herself, tweeting: “My ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies.”
The video Wright shared included a long monologue by Tomi Arayomi, a founder of a Christian ministry. In it, Arayomi said companies and the government were not being transparent and questioned vaccine ingredients. However, he did not provide evidence for his claims, which echo those who have baselessly criticized vaccine use.
The video has since garnered over 35,000 views.
Vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories have boomed during the coronavirus pandemic. At a time when the U.S. faces a surge in cases and deaths, a network of anti-vaxxer activists is finding new audiences, mostly on social media.
The controversy comes the same week that the United Kingdom became the first western country to formally approve the Pfizer and BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, a symbolic milestone in the fight against the pandemic.
Still, the public seems to have mixed emotions about the vaccine. According to an August YouGov poll, only 42 percent of Americans said “yes” to whether they’d get a Covid-19 vaccine when available.
According to the CDC, rates of hospitalization and death from Covid-19 among Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans are two to four times higher than for whites.
Fueled by a history of medical experimentation and unequal access to care, health advocates say that people in the Black and Latino communities struggling with high Covid-19 rates are among those least likely to get vaccinated.
Last month, eight prominent Black doctors wrote a “love letter to Black America” to encourage people to get the Covid-19 vaccine and overcome vaccine hesitancy and distrust.
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