An outbreak of the deadly hantavirus on a Dutch-flagged cruise ship is reviving conspiracy theories about vaccines, alleged depopulation campaigns and miracle cures that flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The multilingual misinformation, which dominated online discourse and disrupted public health responses to the coronavirus, resurged even as the World Health Organization insisted Friday that there remained minimal risk to the general public from passengers of the MV Hondius.
Conspiracy Theories Resurface
Claims include allegations of sinister plots to force vaccines on people or sway America's November elections by justifying expanded use of mail-in ballots. InfoWars founder Alex Jones said on X: 'LOCKDOWN ALERT: Globalists Launch COVID 2.0 As Hantavirus Spreads Worldwide. Just Like A Light Switch.'
A flurry of similar posts declared the outbreak a 'plandemic' — borrowing from the title of a widely discredited pseudo-documentary from 2020 that pushed falsehoods about COVID.
Misinformation Spreads Quickly
Yotam Ophir, head of the University at Buffalo's Media Effects, Misinformation and Extremism lab, said: 'The almost-immediate resurrection of COVID-19 era conspiracy theories is a reminder that misinformation doesn't simply disappear once the crisis that yielded them is over.' He noted that during the COVID pandemic, health misinformation became more entwined with political identity, so the election-rigging narrative 'primes existing beliefs.'
Other posts pointed to past coverage of potential vaccines for hantavirus, COVID-era comments from billionaire Bill Gates and a fictional 1990s television show as evidence the hantavirus was intentionally released to reduce the population or make money for vaccine manufacturers.
Unproven Cures Promoted
There are no approved vaccines or known cures for the hantavirus, which is usually spread from infected rodents and can cause respiratory and cardiac distress as well as hemorrhagic fever. But online, anti-establishment physicians and some politicians immediately touted the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin and other medications as cures.
Former U.S. representative Marjorie Taylor Greene — who posted that the virus was a 'bioweapon' unleashed so pharmaceutical companies could profit off 'poison' vaccines — amplified ivermectin claims from Texas otolaryngologist Mary Talley Bowden, whom AFP has fact-checked for spreading misinformation.
Some further claimed the hantavirus was a side effect of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines, misrepresenting a document that showed only that it was one of many 'adverse events of special interest' subjected to monitoring, not something caused by the shot.
Historical Context
Ophir said many of the conspiracy theories now resurfacing have a long history, tracing to centuries-old fears that diseases were manufactured by elites. But they spread faster now, boosted by social media algorithms and sometimes entertained by anti-vaccine voices installed in high-ranking offices by President Donald Trump.
A passenger is believed to have contracted the rare respiratory disease before boarding the ship in Argentina and infecting others on board. The outbreak has led to widespread claims alleging sinister plots, including forced vaccinations, lockdowns, and election interference through mail-in ballots.
