Sir David Attenborough Says Anti-Vaxxers Are The ‘Ignorant’ Minority

Sir David Attenborough has taken aim at anti-vaxxers who are trying to spread their message during a global pandemic.

The incredible and legendary naturalist is best known for his expertise in the field of natural history.

However, he's taken issue with the 'ignorance' of a vocal minority of people who refuse to acknowledge that vaccines save millions of lives a year.

Appearing on the UK's Channel 4 to discuss a review looking at the connection between economics and the environment, Sir David said the wider community shouldn't listen to anti-vaxxers.

"It is an ignorance of medical fact and if you don't understand it, it's very easy to mistrust it," he said.

"After all, you're dealing with something precious with your own body, your own life, and you wish to protect that. Quite right too.

"And if you don't understand what a vaccination actually does, and to some degree how it does it, then you say, 'Keep off me.'

"If there are people who say that and then get the upper hand in trying to persuade people and frightening people who don't understand, then you're in a serious situation."

Sir David added that pandemics have come and gone during human history and this one has been particularly bad.

"Pandemics are not new," he said.

"I mean, there was the Black Death, there have been pestilences and what has happened now, apart from everything else, is the ease one pandemic can overcome the entire world, it can travel everywhere because we can," he told Jon Snow.

The anti-vaxxer movement has seen a resurgence during the coronavirus pandemic due to people's fears about the vaccine.

Its return has become so urgent that Facebook has sought to restrict posts about the topic.

PA

In December last year, the social media company announced it would ban any anti-vaxx posts related to the virus unless they were supported by fact.

Kang-Xing Jin, head of Facebook Health, said the compant won't be able to get on top of this overnight, however it will work swiftly to get the problematic content removed.

"Given the recent news that Covid-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world, over the coming weeks we will start removing false claims about these vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts on Facebook and Instagram," Jin said in a blog post.

"We will also remove conspiracy theories about Covid-19 vaccines that we know today are false.

"We will not be able to start enforcing these policies overnight. Since it's early and facts about Covid-19 vaccines will continue to evolve, we will regularly update the claims we remove based on guidance from public health authorities as they learn more."

Topics: News, david attenborough

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie