How Many People Have Died After Listening to Bad Advice About COVID?

A lot of people have been harmed, many have died, after listening to bad advice about COVID and vaccines.

How do we know?

Well, there are all of the anti-vaccine activists who have died of COVID…

How Many People Have Died After Listening to Bad Advice About COVID?

These are often the folks spreading the bad advice about COVID, masks, and COVID vaccines…

How many of these anti-vaccine activists have died of COVID?

“In recent weeks, at least 7 different anti-vaccine and anti-mask conservative activists have ultimately died in hospital settings from COVID-19 and its complications.”

At Least 7 Anti-Vaccine, Anti-Mask Conservative Activists Have Died of COVID-19 in Recent Weeks

Tragically, a lot of them!

From pastors and politicians to media personalities and physicians, these folks were unvaccinated and died with COVID.

And no, they weren’t all anti-vaccine activists, some likely only shared their views about COVID and COVID vaccines with close friends and family, but others were more vocal and likely influenced others to skip or delay getting vaccinated or to wear a mask in public places.

This list, while certainly not all inclusive, includes:

• Marcus Lamb – the televangelist founder of Daystar Television died of COVID-19 after his network actively discouraged people from getting vaccinated and protected and promoted anti-vaccine folks like Lawrence Palevsky, Judy Mikovits, Sherri Tenpenny, Simone Gold, Del Bigtree, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Rashid Buttar, Carrie Madej, Polly Tommey, Suzanne Humphries, Peter McCullough, Robert Malone, Pierre Kory, and Richard Urso on their Joni Lamb talk show.
• Paul Oebel – he ran the online Faith Unveiled Network, which regularly featured Mike Lindell, and pushed a lot of COVID misinformation and died with COVID
• Herman Cain – a former Republican candidate for president, Cain was against masks and died after attending a Trump rally in 2020, before we had vaccines.
• Stephen Karanja – a doctor in Kenya who said COVID vaccines were ‘totally unnecessary.’
• Silvio Antonio Favero – a Brazilian official who doubted the safety and efficacy of COVID vaccines and tried to pass legislation banning mandatory COVID vaccination died with COVID.
• Doug Ericksen – a conservative Washington state senator who was against vaccine mandates, he died with COVID at age 52.
• Rob Skiba – a prominent advocate of Flat Earth Theory, who was against vaccines, he died with COVID
• Paul Kendall – an antimask activist in Alaska, he died with COVID
• Phil Valentine – a conservative radio talk show host in Tennessee criticized mask wearing and COVID vaccines (he even sang a parody song about COVID vaccines – the Vaxman) who ended up regretting not being vaccinated as he died with COVID.
• Marc “Mr. Anti-Vax” Bernier – a conservative radio talk show host in Daytona Beach, Florida who often talked about his anti-vaccine views on the air, including that he wouldn’t get a COVID vaccine
• Dick Farrel – a conservative radio talk show host in Florida who also anchored for Newsmax criticized Anthony Fauci, he told his listeners to not get vaccinated, but changed his mind as he died with COVID.
• Robert David Steele – a conspiracy theorist who called COVID a hoax and spoke at far-right events died with COVID
• Pressley Stutts – the Greenville County Republican Party leader died after a one-month battle with COVID, he protested against vaccine and mask requirements and called COVID a bio-weapon
• Caleb Wallace – he led anti-mask protests in Texas and died after a one-month battle with COVID
• Greg Prentice – a Republican Party official in Florida, he pushed COVID conspiracy theories and died with COVID.
• Linda Zuern – she followed Q and Trump, promoted COVID conspiracy theories and died with COVID
• Kelly Canon – a Republican activist who criticized COVID vaccine requirements and actually got a religious exemption to avoid getting a COVID vaccine, died with COVID. She had attended an anti-vaccine symposium a month before she died
• Tod Tucker – a radio programmer in Louisiana, who called people ‘lab rats’ if they got a COVID vaccine died with COVID
• Jimmy DeYoung Sr. – a prophesy scholar and preacher, he hosted a daily radio program and promoted COVID vaccine conspiracy theories
• Tim Parsons – a pastor in Kentucky whose church said they shouldn’t be worried about COVID-19 because “the Bible tells us not to worry.”
• Roger Dale Moon – a pastor in South Carolina who didn’t fear COVID.
• Dean Kohn – a pastor and radio show host who posted anti-vaccine content on Facebook, he died of COVID
• Bishop Gerald Glenn – a Virginia Pentecostal bishop who got COVID and died after he held church services after the governor warned folks to avoid mass gatherings very early in the pandemic
• Pastor Landon Spradlin – a Virginia preacher who “he posted on social media about ‘hysteria’ surrounding the virus,” he died with COVID shortly after he went to Mardi Gras to preach and save souls in the early days of the pandemic
• William Hartmann – a Repulican canvasser who initially refused to certify the election in 2020, he regularly posted anti-COVID vaccine content and died with COVID.
• Cirsten Weldon – a QAnon promoter and influencer who yelled at people waiting in line to get vaccinated and told her followers that COVID vaccines kill – she died with COVID.
• Doug Kuzma – a far-right anti-vaccine podcast host who said he would rather ‘die at the house before I go to the hospital’ was found unconscious at his home on Christmas Eve after suffering with a fever for five days. He had COVID and later died at the hospital.
• Veronica Wolski – known for being against masks and standing on The People’s Bridge in Chicago and hanging QAnon banners (switching from Berni Sanders banners at the beginning of the pandemic), she died with COVID six months after posting an ‘AxTheVax’ banner. She trusted that Trump had a plan…
• Ex-Washington State Trooper Robert LeMay – he was featured on a number of FOX News shows for being against COVID vaccine mandates, but they then ignored his death a few months later, from COVID.
• California Deputy District Attorney Kelly Ernby – spoke out against vaccine mandates, wasn’t vaccinated, and died of COVID.
• Hai Shoulian – an anti-vaccine activist in Israel, he told his followers to ‘keep fighting’ against covid vaccines as he was dying of COVID
• H Scott Apley – a Republican official in Texas who regularly made anti-vaccine and anti-mask posts on social media, he died shortly after getting sick with COVID
• Bob Enyart – the pastor of the Denver Bible church and conservative talk show host who told his listeners to boycott COVID shots because some of them are ‘abortion tainted’ – and left his own kids to ask Did Our Kids Die in Vain?
• Dr. Christopher Foley – a Minnesota internist who began practicing natural medicine in 2001, he was critical of folks wearing masks and spread misinformation about COVID vaccines, he died of COVID.
• Deputy Daniel Trujillo – a deputy with the Denver Sheriff Department, he made anti-COVID vaccine statements and died of COVID at age 33
• Captain Joe Manning – worked in the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, he frequently posted anti-COVID vaccine messages and died with COVID.
• Kristen Lowery – this mom of four frequently posted anti-mask and anti-vaccine messages. She died of COVID.
• Richard Rose – had posted that he would never wear a mask. He died with COVID three months later in the early part of the pandemic, before vaccines were available.
• Alan Scott Lanoix – he thought COVID vaccines were poison. He died with COVID after spending just over two weeks on a ventilator. His sons had to bury him on Father’s Day.
• Stephen Harmon – the 34-year-old California man who joked about not getting vaccinated died with COVID
• Dusty and Tristan Graham – often shared their anti-vaccine beliefs and said they didn’t need a COVID vaccine. They died of COVID within a month of each other.
• Sheila Annette Lewis – died after she was denied a transplant because she woudn’t get a COVID vaccine.
• Leilani Lutali – died after she couldn’t get approved for a kidney transplant because she refused to get a COVID vaccine.
• Michael Stevenson – thought the COVID vaccine was part of a government conspiracy. He died with COVID, as did his father.
• Bridget Jackson – the 29-year-old mother of three who often posted anti-vaccine and anti-mask content, died with COVID
• Sammie-Jo Forde and Heather Maddern – the unvaccinated daughter/mother pair who died of COVID and had shared videos from Candace Owens and other misinformation before her death
• Josh Tidmore – he was young and healthy and unvaccinated. He died with COVID. He wasn’t against vaccines, but seems to have delayed getting a COVID shot “due to conflicting viewpoints on their social media feeds and in conversations.”

What do they have in common?

In addition to the obvious that they were all almost certainly unvaccinated and that they died with COVID, there is the fact that the great majority were influenced by others who pushed misinformation about COVID and COVID vaccines.

Folks who are now trying to push misinformation about COVID vaccines killing more people than COVID. They don’t…

And not surprisingly, you see the name Robert F. Kennedy, Jr come up in their stories a lot…

If you have an unvaccinated friend or family member who died with COVID, whose information were they sharing and talking about? Who influenced them to skip or delay getting vaccinated and protected?

More on Risks of Listening to Bad Advice About COVID

• Did the CDC Move the Goalposts With New COVID Guidance?
• Learn the Risks of Following Bad Advice
• I Refuse to Listen to Bad Advice About Flu Shots, and I Won’t Apologize for It
• MMWR – COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality Among Unvaccinated and Vaccinated Persons Aged ≥12 Years by Receipt of Bivalent Booster Doses and Time Since Vaccination — 24 U.S. Jurisdictions, October 3, 2021–December 24, 2022
• Confronting the evolution and expansion of anti-vaccine activism in the USA in the COVID-19 era
• Lone scarred state: Texas must contend with outsized death toll from COVID-19 and anti-vaccine attitudes
• Their mom died of COVID. They say conspiracy theories are what really killed her
• Why Are So Many People Dying? Reaping the Anti-Vaxx Whirlwind.
• How vaccine misinformation made the COVID-19 death toll worse
• ‘Hundreds dead’ because of Covid-19 misinformation
• Texas has seen nearly 9,000 COVID-19 deaths since February. All but 43 were unvaccinated people.
• Young, pregnant and unvaccinated: Hospitals confront a wave of severe illness and death
• 8 people who died from COVID-19 after letting down their guards or falling for anti-science rhetoric
• Anti-Vax Radio Hosts Keep Dying From COVID
• The Herman Cain Award: The prize no one wants to get and creators want to destroy
• Anti-Mask Rhetoric Led To “Tens Of Thousands” Of Deaths, NIH Director Says
• Once COVID Vaccines Were Introduced, More Republicans Died Than Democrats
• Unvaccinated Pastor Who Almost Died Of COVID Now Preaches The Importance Of Vaccines
• 46 Stories about People Who Regret Not Getting the Vaccine
• A repentant anti-vax activist is reportedly urging people to get vaccinated after a ‘fan’ of his died of COVID-19
• The tragedy of Covid victims who said no to the vaccine
• Consciousness, Covid, and the rise of an American death cult

Last Updated on March 17, 2024