For two years, Italian doctor Pasquale Bacco, whose license has been suspended for six months, has been a fervent opponent of Covid-19 vaccines. That is until he saw a 29-year-old, who had videos of him in the anti-vaccination demonstrations on his cell phone, die from a coronavirus infection.
“I feel that this death was my fault”, confesses Bacco, now immunized, to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “For me, it wasn’t a belief. When I saw reality with my own eyes, I realized I was wrong.”
In an interview with the vehicle, the former anti-vaccine leader shows the line of thought of those who oppose immunizations and exposes the system — including financial — that orbits these people.
In Italy, 83.7% have already taken at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, 77.6% are on a complete schedule, and 59.8% have already received the booster dose, according to Our World in Data. A survey by the Ipsos institute published at the end of January shows that, among respondents who have not received any injections (8.5% of the sample), 48% say they are sure they will not be vaccinated and 38% say they are convinced they have to object. at all costs.
These were the people that Bacco addressed in the hundreds of meetings and protests he says he participated. “We went to the squares and, when we spoke, we knew that people wanted to hear strong things”, he recalls. “I was one of the first, I was the only young doctor with experience. What I said was pure gold for people who are afraid and seek certainty.”
Even having training in the area, the doctor says he has not realized the loss of rationality, since studies show the effectiveness of immunizing agents. “You lose your mind even if you are a rational person. At this moment, a very dangerous process takes place, that going against vaccines is a faith and you become god.”
Within this irrationality, Bacco remembers the last time he took the stage, when he was already in crisis, and told 15,000 people that vaccines immunize, that it was not possible to continue saying otherwise. “But people were elated, they applauded me all the same,” he says. “Even though I said the opposite of what they thought, they didn’t listen.”
Now converted into someone who believes in immunizers, he also believes that “those who climbed these stages have some deaths on their conscience”. “We were big cowards all anti-vaccinations.”
More than speeches, however, Bacco reports that there is an economy behind the movement. When he was in evidence, he says that his private patients have multiplied and that, like him, there are many professionals. One example he cites is of a lawyer who filed eight class actions and became a millionaire out of fear of anti-vaccinations.
The doctor also talks about websites and foundations, as well as restaurants, engineers and teachers as part of a “world of anti-vaccine providers willing to receive anti-vaccine clients”.
Having left this somewhat lucrative system behind, Bacco says he tries to make amends and apologize, although he admits that such a request is futile. He also did not appeal his suspension from practicing medicine because he accepts the mistake made. “Being anti-vaccine can be a business and opportunity turns a man into a thief.”
