Nurses Promoting COVID Misinformation

[Tigerlily8]

I am aware of a former colleague (RN) who is frequently posting inaccurate information on Twitter. She is discouraging social distancing, wearing masks and mandatory vaccination. She recently has been promoting the use of unproven medications to treat Covid-19 and states the pandemic is a hoax. This behavior reflects poorly on all health care providers, especially nurses. I don’t know what I could do other than reporting her to the Texas BON. Any ideas?

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

16 minutes ago, Horseshoe said:

This nurse in a labor delivery unit was not an anti-vaxxer, and I'm not aware that she spread any misinformation whatsoever. But she may well have been a victim of it. Even though the vaccine is recommended for pregnant women, she was too afraid to get it. She got Covid and died, and now her husband has also died of it, leaving 5 CHILDREN orphans. When does this stop????

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-covid-couple-dies-daniel-davy-macias/

She refused the ACOG recommendation that pregnant women be vaccinated.  I still can't wrap my head around parents who don't think about their kids' futures without them.  The shame belongs to the contigent that question which option would have been better for this family.  

[Gooday]

If I said the vaccine causes aids or blood letting cures fever I would be spreading dangerous information.  Being fearful about the long-term effects of something that has not been tested long-term and expressing that concern is not.  Its a matter of opinion.  I have a friend who immigrated from Czechoslovakia back when it was communist.  If they disagreed with the party line that taught religion is dangerous, they not only lost their jobs but sometimes their lives.  It was science to the ruling partly.  Her husband and her had to flee from there to keep from being imprisoned.  I think forget that every nation were freedom has been lost did it in the name of safety.  An employer should have the right to fire an employee if the employee is teaching false info to patients but government should not be policing peoples beliefs and opinions.   

[MunoRN, RN]

5 minutes ago, Gooday said:

If I said the vaccine causes aids or blood letting cures fever I would be spreading dangerous information.  Being fearful about the long-term effects of something that has not been tested long-term and expressing that concern is not.  Its a matter of opinion.  I have a friend who immigrated from Czechoslovakia back when it was communist.  If they disagreed with the party line that taught religion is dangerous, they not only lost their jobs but sometimes their lives.  It was science to the ruling partly.  Her husband and her had to flee from there to keep from being imprisoned.  I think forget that every nation were freedom has been lost did it in the name of safety.  An employer should have the right to fire an employee if the employee is teaching false info to patients but government should not be policing peoples beliefs and opinions.   

The definition of "long term" would be the effects that occur all the way through the end of it's potential for adverse effects, which in the case of these types of vaccines is about 2 weeks, a month would include 'long term'.

[toomuchbaloney]

17 minutes ago, Gooday said:

If I said the vaccine causes aids or blood letting cures fever I would be spreading dangerous information.  Being fearful about the long-term effects of something that has not been tested long-term and expressing that concern is not.  Its a matter of opinion. 

Sure...it's your opinion influencing only yourself and your loved ones until you share that opinion widely on social media or other digital platforms, when you do that you are spreading faux concerns that are illogical and emotionally based. Admitting that you are fearful of long term negative consequences to vaccination is admitting that you have irrational fear that is a byproduct of your media choices and consumption.  

[Gooday]

The average amount of time a new drug or vaccine is tested before use is about ten years.   Covid vaccine was approved in a matter of months.   I'm not arguing over whether or not the Covid vaccine is safe,  I believe its safe.  But my belief should not govern other peoples consciences.   The wife from the couple I mentioned above was one of my CNA's.    Now if the nurse or doctor says that vaccines cause impotence like I have heard some people say without a single study or trial that's a matter for a licensing board.   

[toomuchbaloney]

32 minutes ago, Gooday said:

Covid vaccine was approved in a matter of months.

Does this mean that you don't trust the FDA review and approval process or that you don't trust the data that the FDA utilized for the review? 

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

1 hour ago, Gooday said:

The average amount of time a new drug or vaccine is tested before use is about ten years.   Covid vaccine was approved in a matter of months.   I'm not arguing over whether or not the Covid vaccine is safe,  I believe its safe.  But my belief should not govern other peoples consciences.   The wife from the couple I mentioned above was one of my CNA's.    Now if the nurse or doctor says that vaccines cause impotence like I have heard some people say without a single study or trial that's a matter for a licensing board.   

How long should we have waited before giving it the EUA?  What was the alternative?  The number of scientists working on a single vaccine simultaneously around the world was without precedent!  There's beem nothing like it in human existence.  And here we are still living in limbo because of the anti's and hesitant.  

[Gooday]

We did what we needed to do to save lives.  I am grateful for operation light speed and the right to try law passed by President Trump.   He has saved lives.  Real science takes time.  Prolonged use of Protonix can lead to C-diff, yet every senior home in the country uses it.  We did not know it could lead to C-diff until it had been used for years. That's why I think all the name-calling needs to stop.  Using the scientific method requires time.   A lot of people keep making matter-of-fact statements about this vaccine.  We were told that we needed 1 shot then 2, now we need a booster and some scientists are saying we might need yearly shots like the flu. They just don't know.  Real believers in science, observe people who have taken the vaccine or medication and observe and record their findings, after this vaccine has been on the market for some years we will have data as we do with Hep B and some of our other long-term vaccines.  Until then science does not accuse or attack, it observes and allows people to make decisions based on the principle of autonomy.    So far the data has been promising as more data comes in more of the people holding out will get the shot.  

[toomuchbaloney]

3 minutes ago, Gooday said:

Until then science does not accuse or attack, it observes and allows people to make decisIons based on the principle of autonomy. 

Choosing not to vaccinate is a different matter from choosing to tell people in online forums that it's reasonable to have concern and wait to vaccinate.  Saying things that encourage vaccine hesitancy is not helpful, you should stop.  

 

[MunoRN, RN]

12 minutes ago, Gooday said:

We did what we needed to do to save lives.  I am grateful for operation light speed and the right to try law passed by President Trump.   He has saved lives.  Real science takes time.  Prolonged use of Protonix can lead to C-diff, yet every senior home in the country uses it.  We did not know it could lead to C-diff until it had been used for years. That's why I think all the name-calling needs to stop.  Using the scientific method requires time.   A lot of people keep making matter-of-fact statements about this vaccine.  We were told that we needed 1 shot then 2, now we need a booster and some scientists are saying we might need yearly shots like the flu. They just don't know.  Real believers in science, observe people who have taken the vaccine or medication and observe and record their findings, after this vaccine has been on the market for some years we will have data as we do with Hep B and some of our other long-term vaccines.  Until then science does not accuse or attack, it observes and allows people to make decisions based on the principle of autonomy.    So far the data has been promising as more data comes in more of the people holding out will get the shot.  

Your suggestion that we should be skeptical of the Covid vaccine because we were told it would last forever is simply false.  The type and longevity of antibodies produces when triggered by Coronavirus exposure was well understood prior to Covid.  

Your suggestion that we still don't know if the risks of the vaccine are worse than the risks of Covid are reckless and dangerous, I would say you should be ashamed but I haven't found that people spreading Covid misinformation are capable of that.

[Charlcie, BSN, RN]

On 9/25/2021 at 9:50 AM, SmilingBluEyes said:

Have you reported what you've seen?

yes and it gets removed but I'm sure plenty of people see it first.

[MaxAttack, BSN, RN]

8 hours ago, Gooday said:

We did not know it could lead to C-diff until it had been used for years.

Your responses are a great example of how personal beliefs and opinions don't always reflect the reality. A lot of what you're saying has to do with holes in your knowledge regarding vaccines and the development of this particular vaccine. There's a ton of good information from reputable sources on the concerns you bring up (vaccine development and factors like decades of research on coronaviruses that contributed to how quickly covid vaccines were made, what makes a vaccine different from medications like Protonix and why this influences when long-term effects are seen, confidence in when side effects would be seen based on historical data, etc).

Instead of perpetuating these debunked talking points or comparing actual science to communism, why not spend some time reading about how we pulled off such an amazing accomplishment and can be so confident in them? You might learn some things and even go on save lives by helping others understand how irrational their fears are.