Placer County sheriff’s rush to spread COVID vaccine misinformation could cost lives
Shame on Placer County Sheriff Devon Bell for stupidly stoking unfounded fears of the COVID-19 vaccine at a critical moment.
In January, Bell ignored pleas from public health officials and announced that a local man had died after receiving the vaccine. The sheriff’s statement, posted on Facebook, wrongly implied that the vaccine may have played a factor in the man’s death. The sheriff’s post instantly became a viral misinformation sensation. Newspapers around the globe ran stories about it and anti-vaccine cranks added it to their arsenal of false arguments against vaccines.
As it turned out, the 64-year-old healthcare worker had died of pre-existing health issues. The vaccine, which he had received in Auburn on the day he died, had nothing to do with it. Yet Bell rushed to spread vaccine misinformation before seeing the results of an autopsy.
“A Placer County health official pleaded with the sheriff’s office not to release a statement that implied a local man had died from a COVID-19 vaccine,” wrote The Sacramento Bee’s Ryan Sabalow and Jason Pohl. “But the sheriff refused to back down, even though the man’s autopsy results were pending, according to the emails.”
Despite resistance from Placer County officials, The Bee obtained emails that revealed a tense behind-the-scenes debate over the sheriff’s decision to publish the misleading information.
“We strongly believe it is premature to do any public messaging surrounding this death,” Dr. Rob Oldham, the director of Placer’s Health and Human Services agency, emailed Undersheriff Wayne Woo. “We can see very little benefit to public health in doing so and substantial potential detriment.”
While the sheriff’s statement said the results of the autopsy were pending, media outlets and anti-vaxxers immediately latched onto the idea that the man’s death might have had something to do with the vaccine. This false narrative rocketed around the world, creating such an uproar that it forced the sheriff to put out a second statement one week later making it clear the vaccine played no role in the man’s death.
“It had merely been a coincidence,” wrote Sabalow and Pohl about the unfortunate but unrelated timing of the vaccination and the man’s passing.
Bell’s misleading statement could increase fears of the COVID vaccine while we’re in a race against time to inoculate the public before the new variants cause more deaths. Most people are clamoring to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, but some conservative factions have adopted vaccine skepticism as a new talking point. Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson have featured vaccine skeptics and a recent poll found that 49% of Republican men say they won’t get the jab.
That’s why Bell’s decision to rush forward with misinformation was worse than merely irresponsible. It could also prove fatal to vaccine-hesitant people in his county, in this nation and around the world.
Hopefully, Bell has learned his lesson and will listen to the experts the next time they warn him about the potentially deadly consequences of spreading misinformation.
This story was originally published March 30, 2021 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Placer County sheriff’s rush to spread COVID vaccine misinformation could cost lives."