There is a horrifying level of anti-science aggression in the United States coming from far right groups including some elected members of the US Congress and conservative news outlets that target scientists fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conservative news outlets repeatedly and purposefully promote disinformation designed to portray key American scientists as enemies. As a consequence, many receive threats via email and on social media, while some are stalked at home, to create an unprecedented culture of antiscience intimidation.
Prior to 2021, there was a concerted program of antiscience disinformation that dismissed the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic which was promoted by a White House committed to policies of “America First”. “America First” promotes negativism, anti-immigration, voter suppression, and loyalty tests to the former President that question the veracity of the 2020 Presidential election. These elements converge to form what could become modern day authoritarian regime. Historically, such regimes viewed scientists as enemies of the state.
In June 2021, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced house bill 2316. The “Fire Fauci Act” which called for halting payment of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s salary as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and auditing his digital correspondence and financial transactions. Mud slinging Rand Paul (R-KY) has been making unsubstantiated claims that Fauci is responsible for 5 million deaths. Public threats against Anthony Fauci have resulted in his having to hire security to keep his family safe.
Scientists who are trying to keep Americans safe are being threatened all across the county. Public-health researcher Tara Kirk Sell experienced online and e-mail attacks after talking about COVID-19 in the media. Infectious-diseases physician Krutika Kuppalli had been in her new job for barely a week in September 2020, when someone phoned her at home and threatened to kill her. Of 321 scientists asked by Nature Magazine, 15% said they had received death threats and 22% had been threatened with physical or sexual violence as a result of talking publicly about the pandemic. Two-thirds said they had had a negative experience after appearing in the media. Scientists disclosed how they had been left distressed and scared and in some cases stopped sharing their views publicly after experiencing harassment and intimidation.
In June 2021, the Republicans organized a House Select Subcommittee on the origins of COVID-19 with the presumption that it was ignited by gain-of-function genetic engineering research from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Despite evidence pointing to spillover from a viral infection in bats to additional mammals and ultimately humans as has happened in previous coronavirus epidemics.
Vaccines and vaccine scientists are also targeted. Alongside the June 2021 Republican COVID-19 origins hearings, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) organized a round table in Milwaukee to highlight the rare adverse side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, as evening Fox News anchors promoted fake claims regarding deaths from COVID-19 vaccination. In July 2021, Rep. Greene declared on Twitter that a COVID-19 vaccine is “a political tool used to control people”, while Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) said that door-to-door COVID-19 vaccinations were just a step away from US Government confiscations of guns and bibles, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) referred to vaccinators as “needle Nazis”. Days later, the medical director for vaccines in the Tennessee Department of Health was abruptly terminated for her efforts to vaccinate minors (14 and up) without parental consent. At the same time states are making efforts to halt vaccine advocacy and outreach to teens and adolescents.