FAKE NEWS: Anti-COVID vaccination turns people into zombies, and their skin will turn to scales

Father Zenovie, the abbot of Nechit Monastery in Neamț County, told his congregation, during service, that people who got vaccinated will become zombies and their skin will turn to fish scales.

NEWS: “The so-called vaccine is not a vaccine. It is anything but a vaccine. Everyone who has taken the vaccine can expect to develop the following ailments: terrible skin disease, kidney failure, strokes, heart disease, neurological affections and paralysis.

People who got vaccinated, in addition to this unknown epidemic, will no longer be able to walk. They will be zombies. They’ll be just like junkies. And if you want to make an experience, go to a hospital and see what sedated people look like. That’s how we’ll end up.

It will be the most serious epidemic that ever happened on the face of Earth. People who today are happy they’ve taken the vaccine, tomorrow will be utterly unhappy, because they won’t even have the time to repent for their actions against God.

After vaccination, over a short period of time and in combination with the new virus, people’s skin will turn to scales, just like fish. There will be no scientific explanation as to the origin of this new fatal disease, this new epidemic, which will affect the body’s immunity response.

There’s no name for this illness. People’s bodies will be covered with scales and they will get blood cancers that will spread through their whole bodies. Their bodies will be covered with swellings oozing with liquid. It will be a terrible disease!”, Father Zenovie said in his sermon, in a video published on YouTube and broadcast by Antena3.ro.

NARRATIVES: 1. The vaccine will cause serious illnesses in people who have taken the vaccine. 2. Vaccinated people will answer to God and will await divine punishment.

BACKGROUND: The video was filmed recently and posted on social media. Several priests of the Romanian Orthodox Church, starting with the Archbishop of Tomis, Teodosie have engaged in a campaign aimed at denying the existence of COVID-19 and spreading propaganda against COVID vaccination.

Father Zenovie, the abbot of Nechit Monastery in Neamț County, made the abovementioned statements during a recent religious service. The Romanian Orthodox Church (BOR) reacted and dissociated itself from the abbot’s statements. The Church firmly condemned any kind of discourse that places religion at odds with medical science.

“The Orthodox Church and all the other religious denominations in Romania support genuine efforts at informing people with respect to vaccination (it is not an official campaign of the Church, but an act of common sense), and urge people to develop their own opinions and protect themselves against any form of disinformation.

The fact that there are people, including clergymen like this abbot who, ignorant of medical facts, do not share this natural, rational view that has no religious or theological underpinnings, nor can it ever have, is quite telling of their being uprooted from present-day realities.

The apocalyptical confusion of vaccination with faith and theology, and the absurd overlapping of plans, the antagonistic presentation of faith and reason, of Church Mysteries and medical practice, all that and many other misconceptions, fueled and shared in a craze by (and from) conspiracy-mongering websites that systematically disinform audiences, will never intertwine with the genuine Christian spirit and the balanced attitude of the Church. I believe that, fortunately, their impact is, and will remain, of no consequence to society”, BOR spokesperson, Vasile Bănescu, said after the incident.

Veridica.ro has previously tackled similar expressions of anti-vaxxers, which come against the backdrop of a lack of critical thinking in the general population (including in Romania), who has a high propensity for conspiracy theories in the absence of a sound education and a good understanding of complex phenomena.

PURPOSE: To oppose anti-COVID-19 vaccination, claiming it causes serious disease in people who choose to get vaccinated.

WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Most medical studies carried out globally point to very few adverse reactions to COVID vaccination, compared to the majority of people who don’t get immunized. Moreover, the reactions are mild, bearable and temporary.

For instance, data made public by the British Government reveals that 127,772 COVID-related fatalities have been reported in the UK since the start of the outbreak last year and by the end of May. Also worth mentioning is that Great Britain is the European country with the largest share of the general population to have taken the anti-COVID jab. Most Brits have received the AstraZeneca serum.

An official report shows that vaccination using the three certified serums in Great Britain – AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna – has led to an 81% decrease in COVID-related mortality rates.

“An estimated 10,400 deaths have been averted as a result of the COVID-19 vaccination

programme up to the end of March, 2021. This analysis is based on the direct effects of the vaccination on mortality. There is increasing evidence that both vaccines in use in England prevent infection and transmission. […] These findings provide further evidence that the COVID-19 vaccination programme is already having a significant impact on severe COVID-19 disease in England”, the report also shows.

For all the three types of vaccine, researchers in Great Britain say one in ten people who’ve taken the COVID vaccine developed adverse reactions. These include injection site reactions (sore arm), fatigue, headaches, myalgia (muscle pain), chills, arthralgia (joint pain) and fever.

This safety update report is based on detailed analysis of data up to May 26, 2021. At this date, an estimated 14.0 million first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 24.3 million first doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine had been administered, and some 10.6 million and 13.4 million second doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca respectively. An approximate 0.4 million first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine have also now been administered.

As of May 26, 2021, for the UK, 64,450 Yellow Cards have been reported for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, 188,589 have been reported for the AstraZeneca vaccine, 2,469 for the Moderna vaccine and 716 have been reported where the brand of the vaccine was not specified.

For the Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines, the overall reporting rate is around 3 to 7 Yellow Cards per 1,000 doses administered.

A survey conducted in February, 2021, confirms that Romanians too are more likely to get vaccinated than expose themselves to the risk of COVID-19 infection. At the same time, a large percentage of Romanians, even in urban areas, are inclined to believe conspiracy theories regarding COVID vaccination.

WHO STANDS TO BENEFIT: Anti-vaxxers, Russian propaganda and conservative media who firmly oppose vaccination.