Opinion – Pedro Hallal: The defeat of denialism: NoVAX Djocovid

History is full of examples in which the inability to dialogue, intolerance and hatred caused wars, conflicts and violence. The same story, fortunately, is also full of examples in which dialogue, tolerance and love avoided wars, conflicts and violence.

Since the arrival of the coronavirus, the world has had to adapt to the biggest pandemic of our generations, at the same time that it has seen the awakening of a divided, intolerant society, full of hatred and sealing, and with little capacity (and interest) to seek minimal consensus.

It should be noted here that, since the beginning of the pandemic, all serious scientists have more questions than answers, more doubts than certainties, and they are not ashamed to change their position as knowledge about Covid-19 evolves. I cannot speak for all my colleagues, but in my case, I remember several errors:

• I never imagined the pandemic would last this long. I imagined that the pandemic would have an initial wave, followed by a second wave the following year, but I never imagined that we would spend more than two years in a pandemic situation, practically without rest.
• As much as we all admit the possibility of the emergence of variants, and we have talked extensively that the wide circulation of the virus increased this chance, the truth is that I never imagined that we would fill a good part of the Greek alphabet with so many variants.

Finally, this introduction highlights a basic but fundamental element of the scientific method: the questions are as relevant as the answers to science. It is more than normal for one scientist to analyze the data of the omicron variant and predict that it could signal the beginning of the end of the pandemic, and another to analyze the same data and predict that the omicron variant will be as or more devastating than previous variants.

What is not normal is to defraud science, spread fake news, persecute researchers and ignore reality. Throughout this pandemic, unfortunately, we’ve seen this so many times, it seems normal when someone posts on social media that lice medicine cures Covid-19, that vaccine kills more than it saves lives, or that the earth is flat.

Unfortunately, this parallel reality, fueled by bubbles of hate and fake news, also affects some of those who should serve as an example. Here in Brazil, a president elected with 57 million votes chose the side of the virus, fake news, denialism, instead of protecting the more than 210 million inhabitants of the country he was supposed to govern.

Outside of politics, we also have examples of idols who stain their biography by defending the indefensible and promoting hatred, denialism and intolerance. Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic (now nicknamed NoVAX Djocovid) is one of them.

In the first months of the pandemic, he organized a clandestine tournament that infected several of the participants. Not content, he now has a pathetic legal case for not accepting Australian health rules. He was barred and sent back home.

Australia, since the beginning of the pandemic, accumulates less than 100 deaths for every 1 million people. To give you an idea, Brazil accumulates 2,900 deaths for every 1 million people. When I see Brazilian politicians on social media trying to teach the Australian government to control the pandemic, I confess that it makes me want to laugh (or cry). Australia is an example for the whole world in controlling the pandemic.

Although Djokovic is the best tennis player today and one of the greatest of all time, the only loser in this case is himself.

The Australian Open tennis will take place in the same way, and Spaniard Rafael Nadal will have a chance to overtake Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the biggest winner in history. That’s because the best tennis player today decided to ignore science and promote denialism, hatred and intolerance.

As a tennis fan, I hope the Serb has the humility to apologize to the fans, get vaccinated urgently, and stop embarrassing himself.