One woman was vaccinated and died two days later. It's not Covid's problem, it's the vaccines. This is what a Bulgarian teacher told her students in class. And since children generally accept uncritically everything they hear from their teachers, it is quite understandable for a child to worry that his parents will die because they have been vaccinated. But not only the children uncritically accept the misinformation, but obviously many Bulgarian teachers as well. Virologist Prof. Radka Argirova, who is an expert at MES meetings with teachers on vaccination, said she has to answer questions such as "How much money do they pay you to tell lies?" or "How much longer will you talk about these vaccines that are water?"

The facts
Bulgaria has the image of the poorest and most corrupt country in the EU. And according to statistics on the spread of the coronavirus, Bulgaria not only has the lowest vaccination rate, but also fights for the "title" for the highest mortality. This adds value to another clichéd definition - for the fastest melting nation.

The main reason for the record high mortality is the very low level of vaccination. The majority of the population is in the position of the teachers in the example above and refuses to be vaccinated - although data from around the world show that mortality is many times lower in countries with higher levels of vaccination. In Austria, for example, where about 62% of the population is vaccinated, the mortality rate is 1.58 people per 1 million, and in Bulgaria, where about 22% are vaccinated, the mortality rate is 18.33 people per 1 million.

The latest version of anti-vaccines, distributed by politicians, states that the high mortality rate is due to the poor state of health care in Bulgaria. The basic inspection shows that there is no country with a higher level of vaccination than Bulgaria, where there is a higher mortality rate - no matter where it is in the health quality index.

The reasons
Since the beginning of the year, Bulgaria is in a pre-election situation. And only two parties have so far not allowed themselves to use fake news in the battle for the votes of the majority unvaccinated.

Otherwise, there are many reasons for the flourishing of anti-vaccination. Apart from the pre-election irresponsibility, one of them is the low level of functional and media literacy. And it is the main barrier against lies and misinformation.

The current takeover of public opinion by disinformation is not the first example in recent years - and will not be the last. Similarly, large groups were convinced that the Istanbul Convention would introduce a third sex, and that the Strategy for the Child aimed at taking children away and taking them abroad. Part of the Facebook groups and the "brains" behind the three disinformation campaigns are the same.

These days, in a European report, Russia has once again been cited as the source of the campaign against Western vaccines. This time, the report highlights that a systematic disinformation campaign in the Russian media aimed at fueling suspicions in the West about Kovid-19 vaccines has backfired, as the number of deaths in Russia has risen to record levels. In other words: misinformation kills. Quite literally.

Russia is not the only one to blame
In the Bulgarian case, however, Russia is not the only one to blame. The parties that win votes with the price of corpses are also responsible. Responsibility is also borne by the media, which accumulate clicks, presenting the theses of "scientists" and talking heads, which have long been compromised. Responsibility lies with all three governments this year, which did not find the courage and motivation to conduct a real and timely information campaign on vaccination. And because the lack of information does not tolerate a vacuum, the "answers" to the vaccination questions were given by the misinformation. One of the few effective methods against misinformation is the repetition of correct information. But there is no such campaign.

And so we came to a hell of a divided society where anti-vaxers are in the majority. They insist that they have the right to an opinion and are not afraid to impose it by shouting in squares, media and social networks. Opinion is not a fact, but false information, presented by a time-tested method, becomes an opinion that in the minds of the majority is equal to fact. Psychology and military textbooks on misinformation describe well the ways in which what you read and hear imperceptibly becomes your opinion, a conclusion that you think you have reached. It is not difficult. The subconscious is motivated by feelings, by emotions, not by knowledge. That is why such false news is used that wearing masks and tests is harmful to children, and vaccines against Covid-19 lead to infertility.

A lesson in the power of misinformation can be learned from Ukraine, which realized that an important factor in the easy annexation of Crimea and the still-simmering conflicts in Donbas was the level of misinformation and low media literacy. For several years now, attempts have been made there to increase media literacy and build critical thinking at school age.

Disinformation vaccines
Bulgarian society needs not only vaccines against the coronavirus, but also a vaccine against misinformation. Otherwise, Bulgaria's future will continue to be bleak, and this successful campaign will not be the last.

In the last week alone, 885 people have died in Bulgaria. 95% of them have not been vaccinated. And despite this fact, lies about vaccines have taken root in the public consciousness. Just as the lies about the "gender" conspiracy have taken root. As well as a bunch of other nonsense and prejudices have taken root.

/Dnevnik and Deutsche Welle

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