The Great Healthcare Reset

Conspiracy theories have found extremely fertile ground in Romania, a country that faces not only the effects of the big international crises, but also those triggered by internal crises related to the low standard of living or the lack of access to basic services, such as education and healthcare. In general, these are also the factors that feed Romanians’ sometimes-extreme appetite for the narratives claiming that there is an occult, worldwide plan aimed at reducing the planet's population and/or control it completely. They are promoted by various publications or figures from the ultra-religious conservative area, but they are also taken over and exploited by politicians, for electoral purposes, or people known to be close to Russia and its foreign policy.

According to conspiracy theorists, the plan to manipulate humanity would be put into practice with the help of new technologies based on artificial intelligence, but also some medical procedures that, in the hands of the World Health Organization, are used as biological weapons. In their opinion, at present, almost any medical intervention aims to make the global population sick, and to inoculate human bodies with nanodevices, in order to exercise control over the thoughts and movements of those affected.

Public enemy number one: the vaccines

The favorite target of these narratives is vaccines, especially those based on mRNA technology, but also the influenza or measles vaccines, which are said to have been modified to serve occult purposes. The high degree of penetration in the collective mind of these conspiracy theories is extremely visible in the scale with which a measles epidemic that broke out at the end of last year is manifesting on the territory of the entire country. According to official data provided by the National Institute of Public Health, between January 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, 10.607 cases of measles were confirmed in Romania, with 12 deaths recorded. Most of them were in unvaccinated people, especially children aged between 0 and 9 years. For comparison, in 2022, only 17 cases of measles were detected nationally, without any deaths being reported. The explanation lies in the extremely low vaccination rate against measles in recent years. Currently, the measles vaccine coverage with the first dose is 78% and 62% for the booster, given that, experts say, to eradicate measles, the vaccination rate must be around 95 percent, a value that Romania had consistently reached until a few years ago. The decrease in the percentage of the measles-vaccinated population started about ten years ago and has sharply intensified in the post-pandemic period, following increasingly aggressive fake news campaigns against vaccination.

Vaccines with remote control nanotechnology

Of these, by far, the most visible was the campaign led by a well-known anti-vaxxer publication, which took over the "conclusions" of an American doctor of Romanian origin, Ana Maria Mihalcea, a staunch believer in the theory that evil forces are secretly working to depopulate the planet , enslave the remaining population and turn "God's creation into something satanic, devilish." She claims to have discovered nanobots, quantum dots and self-assembling hydrogen in measles vaccines , which she literally says she can't see, "but they're clearly there." In fact, her "studies" are only published or cited by publications and websites well-known for conspiracy propaganda, such as InfoWars or The Expose.

The anti-vaccination campaign of the aforementioned publication is not limited to the measles vaccine. In the autumn of last year, the site published another study, similar to Ana Mihalcea's "research", carried out by a Romanian gynecologist, Geanina Hagima, known for her conviction that the Covid-19 pandemic was orchestrated and the disease artificially created. Hagma conducted a microscopic analysis of the banal flu vaccine, reaching, in turn, the conclusion that it also contained elements of nanotechnology meant to allow the remote control of the vaccinated people. Without observing the basic scientific rigor required by the experiment, Geanina Hagima states that, initially, nothing caught her attention, but after forgetting the sample in a box for five days, she says, "I re-examined it and found with amazement the presence of geometric structures".

These conspiracy theories caught on. Romania, along with Bulgaria, had the lowest Covid-19 vaccination rate in the EU.

The world's most successful product of the occult, the mRNA vaccine: causes sterility across "three generations" and turns people into zombies

Recently, adapting a narrative that circulated in 2021, shortly after the introduction of Covid vaccines on the market, according to which Japan had banned those who had been vaccinated from donating blood, anti-vaccine propaganda in Romania claimed that a group of Japanese researchers called on the authorities to ban blood transfusions from people vaccinated against the coronavirus . The theory suggested that Japanese scientists had proven that the spike protein in the vaccine reached the human brain through the blood, irreparably affecting the health of the subjects. The statements in the message were argued with other fake theories, such as "it has been proven that the spike protein persists in the body long after the injection" or "Covid vaccines affect the immune system". The demonization of mRNA vaccines began, however, with the announcement of their launch on the market, even before the start of the actual vaccination. Initially, conspiracy theories accused the ineffectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines, launched “fast-forward”, and the severity of their adverse effects, which had not been studied enough.

To support their claims they used as an example Simona Halep, who allegedly lost the match in the round of 16 at the 2022 Australian Open because she had been vaccinated. It was also said that the negative effects of Covid vaccines degenerated into testicular cancer in men, whose lives would have been shortened by exactly 24 years, physical disabilities in women, myocarditis or mental problems, culminating with the "sudden death", a term that conspiracy theorist claim it was invented by the occult to hide the devastating effects of vaccination. In fact, the Sudden Death Syndrome has been an officially accepted diagnosis on death certificates since the early 1970s and it designates several biological scenarios that lead to mortality, with rapid and unexpected onset.

One of the most absurd theories related to mRNA vaccines was promoted by the pro-Russian senator Diana Şoşoaca, who, in a series of statements bordering on the ridiculous and the lack of logic, including that a sterile person could have offspring, claimed that the Covid-19 vaccine would cause sterility across three generations . Theories of the same nature were, however, also circulated in the religious area, when a well-known Orthodox monk, the abbot of a monastery in the north of Romania, urged his parishioners not to get vaccinated, because they would turn into zombies and their skin would get covered in scales. Calls to refuse vaccination were also made by the Archbishop of Tomis, Teodosie, an open supporter and admirer of Vladimir Putin, who accused the lack of scientific foundation of modern medicine in general and claimed that those who got vaccinated were dying.

WHO's plan to depopulate and subjugate humanity

Another approach of the conspiracy theorists concerns not only vaccines, but also a series of other medical procedures, the purpose of which would not be to prevent diseases, but the exact opposite, to make patients sick. One of the methods used by the “medical mafia” would be the mammographic screening, in reality the most widespread and effective method of detecting breast cancer in its early stages. Conspiracists claim that the procedure does not actually detect anything, and the irradiation causes tumors in the subject’s body and helps metastases spread. The argument brought to support the theory was that Switzerland, a country with one of the best health systems in the world, had banned mammograms, which is obviously false, as one can easily see form a quick check on the Internet. The narrative circulated in Romania as well a few years ago, promoted by Olivia Steer, a former journalist well-known for her anti-medicine positions, who claims that diseases disappear by themselves or "helped" by a suitable diet, and any medical act represents an attack on the sacredness of the body, which does nothing but make the body even sicker.

At the same time, the conspiracists draw attention to an occult plan according to which, from now on, humanity will be constantly confronted with invented pandemics that, on the one hand, will kill most people, and on the other hand, will suppress the individual rights and freedoms of those left alive. The theory was brought to the attention of the public by Iosefina Pascal, a self-proclaimed journalist, in fact employed by a radio station controlled by a controversial politician and businessman, described by the press as pro-Russian.

Why Romanians believe so much in health-related conspiracy theories

Sociologist Gelu Duminică has explained for Veridica the Romanians’ appetite for conspiracy theories. First of all, it’s the lack of quality education, but there are also cultural and historical factors: "conspiracies are transmitted to us from an early age, remember the ballad of Mioriţa, which is being thought in schools and regarded as an essential writing, and puts forth the idea of the enemy who wants to harm us". The "danger" is more present in this geographical area than in other parts also because mysticism is “truer” than science, and this fact is also due to the type of human development that we show to the future generations, embodied in the (non)quality of the local opinion leaders.

The reluctance towards logical-scientific explanations that debunk conspiracy theories also comes from education, more precisely from the educational system still strongly influenced by the models of the past, says Gelu Duminică: "when you memorize literary analyses, it's hard to have doubts. To reach the truth, you must be equipped with doubt, with the ability to question and constructively criticize actions, based on evidence". In order to better understand this phenomenon, Duminică invites the public to an introspection, aimed at observing if we ourselves, in our professional-academic development so far, have been challenged to develop these skills. "We are not born with the conspiracy theory in our genes, but we develop it because it is transmitted to us from too many sides!" added the sociologist.

Many times, even if they are born in the Western space, conspiracy theories are more successful in the Eastern European space, in the countries of the former communist bloc. This tendency is explained by Gelu Duminică, on the one hand, by the desire of the Eastern Europeans to demonstrate their superiority in front of the Westerners, in the absence of other arguments, and on the other hand, by the need to find a culprit for the more disadvantageous social situation which they face: "we are better than them, but they’ve always wished us bad”. Another aspect, not to be neglected, is represented by the academic tradition, where the east of the continent is facing a gap of over 800 years. In this interval, Western society created hundreds of generations of leaders and thinkers trained on scientific evidence, while, especially in the Orthodox space, education was based on the conservative principles imposed by the Church, dominated by the Eastern mysticism. From this point of view, says Gelu Duminică, Romania is closer to the eastern cultural space than to the western one. And propaganda, be it nationalist or pro-Russian, exploits precisely this educational handicap. But, Duminica also says, “what Romania has achieved in the last 30 years is fascinating, and the gaps have been shrinking by the day. And this is the merit of Europe!”