Piers Morgan, who has been a vocal critic of the Government’s handling of the coronavirus paramedic, has commented on the rising popularity of the anti-vaccination movement in Britain since the start of the crisis. Commenting on a nurse who has been suspended for publicising coronavirus conspiracy theories, the TV presenter branded anti-vaxxers “imbeciles”.
He wrote on Twitter: “These people are so dangerous.
“If we get a vaccine & people don’t take it because imbeciles like this persuade them not to, we will never defeat coronavirus.”
Mr Morgan was commenting on the case of Kate Shemirani, a 54-year-old nurse who compared public health restrictions to the Holocaust.
The woman has been suspended and is subject to an investigation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for her controversial remarks.
Ms Shemirani, who has become the new face of the anti-vaccination movement in Britain, has made a number of wild accusations.
She claimed to have firsthand accounts of patients being taken to hospital during the peak of the pandemic who were deliberately allowed to die.
The 54-year-old also wrote on social media: “Murder. Genocide. The NHS is the new Auschwitz.”
She has been suspended for 18months to avoid the risk of harm to the public.
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The suspended nurse is due to host a rally in Trafalgar Square later this month, which she says will be a “medic-focused event”.
Her guests include Kevin Corbett, a former nursing lecturer who has questioned whether the “‘so-called’ virus is real”.
Dolores Cahill, from University College Dublin, is also due to speak at the rally.
The professor has claimed COVID-19 is “a fear-mongering propaganda tool to try and take away rights from people and to make them more sick and to force vaccinations on us”.
Countries across the world are scrambling to make a coronavirus vaccine.
Vaccines usually take years to develop, test and deliver but scientists are taking unprecedented steps to secure a vaccine as quickly as possible.
A vaccine trial conducted by Oxford University was put on hold this week after a volunteer taking part in the study fell ill.
Researchers say the pause is “routine” and happens when a participant becomes unwell with an “unexplained illness”.
On Saturday experts announced the trial would resume.
