How COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Led To A Family Matriarch's Preventable Death
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 April 2022
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
She believed that the coronavirus was a hoax and refused to get vaccinated. When she got COVID-19 last winter, Stephanie refused treatments and eventually died just a few days after Christmas.
While there is no way to know exactly how many people like Stephanie have died because they believed conspiracy theories, the Kaiser Family Foundation recently found that more than 200,000 Americans would be alive today, had they had been vaccinated.
NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | One thing everyone agrees on is that Stephanie didn't have to die of COVID. |
| 0:05.0 | It's something I can't understand still. |
| 0:08.0 | And months after she did, her family is still struggling to understand why. |
| 0:12.0 | There is no perfect puzzle piece for this. I literally go through this all the time. |
| 0:16.0 | That's Stephanie's adult daughter, Laurie. We're keeping it to first names to give her and the rest of her family privacy as they continue to grieve. |
| 0:23.0 | Stephanie was 75. She had two children and they say she was a pretty great mom growing up. |
| 0:28.0 | Here's her other daughter, Vicki. |
| 0:30.0 | She just believed we could do anything. And I think that's really powerful as a parent. |
| 0:35.0 | But in recent years, she had begun to change. She was drawn into a world of conspiracy theories and paranoia. |
| 0:41.0 | She thought COVID was a hoax. She refused to get vaccinated, in part because of a far-fetched belief that the vaccines contained secret technology. |
| 0:50.0 | Chips, if you take the vaccine, you'll get a chip that you're planting chips in us. |
| 0:54.0 | Yeah, we'll have chips that you're right. |
| 0:56.0 | When she fell ill this past winter, she refused treatments that could have helped. She grew sicker and eventually died a few days after Christmas. |
| 1:04.0 | Stephanie's family was left with grief, anger, and questions. And Laurie says she believes they're not the only ones. |
| 1:11.0 | I know we're not alone. I know this is happening all over the place. |
| 1:17.0 | There's no way to know exactly how many people like Stephanie have died because they believed conspiracy theories, but there's evidence to suggest it's happening a lot. |
| 1:26.0 | According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 200,000 Americans would be alive today if they had been vaccinated. |
| 1:34.0 | Consider this. More than two years into the coronavirus pandemic, America is approaching 1 million deaths from COVID-19. |
| 1:43.0 | And conspiracy theories are one reason that number is so high. |
| 1:50.0 | From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. It's Tuesday, April 26. |
| 1:56.0 | This message comes from NPR Sponsor Satfa, the comfort company. |
| 2:00.0 | Satfa luxury mattresses are sold online and priced at about 50% less than mattress stores. |
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