Jehovah's Witnesses and vaccines: the misinformation continues

One of LIREC’s goals is to combat misinformation and to promote objective and documented awareness about both religious and non-religious minorities, both in our country and in the world.

In line with this we report a serious case of misinformation.
In the last few days, around 80 news outlets have spread several articles on the web about a family, living in the province of Pistoia, of which all members of the family, parents and daughter, died because of COVID 19. According to the news, it appears to be a family of "no vax" Jehovah's Witnesses, wiped out by the virus within just a few days.
Here are some sample headlines:

• Covid kills an entire family of Jehovah's Witnesses in a few days: none of them were vaccinated

• Pistoia, Covid kills an entire family of Jehovah's Witnesses in a few days: none of them were vaccinated

• Entire family of Jehovah's Witnesses wiped out by Covid. They weren’t vaccinated

• Massacre of Jehovah's Witnesses: an entire family killed in three days, the worst of COVID

• Covid kills an entire family of Jehovah's Witnesses in just a few days: none of them were vaccinated

• No vax Jehovah's Witness family die from Covid: father, mother and daughter (who leaves behind two children) are killed

  
  This is yet another form of serious stigmatization, causing damage to a religious denomination that is already going through a very difficult time in history, being persecuted and banned in some nations of the world. It is a situation that LIREC has followed continually since its founding.

The weapon used to attack the community of Jehovah's Witnesses in Italy is the lie that portrays them as monsters. These monsters in reality don’t exist but each time they are created so as to produce in the public an instinctive loathing towards this organization. The lies are not supported by facts but sadly, as history has shown, are driven by the hatred that has always existed towards anything that is viewed as "different".

The news is false for many reasons. To start with, Jehovah's Witnesses are not against vaccines. Moreover, the reference to these individuals’ religious affiliation is very serious and does nothing more than damage the reputation of a minority right at a time when the issue of "vaccines" is of global interest and could even generate very dangerous social conflicts, as can be seen from any source of information available.

Additionally, the details concerning the daughter are false as she actually wasn’t a Jehovah's Witness and, according to some sources, had not been vaccinated due to health problems. It also seems that the father had received one dose of the vaccine and therefore was not a "no vax".

So as to try and re-establish the truth we refer to the statement issued in recent days by the Press Office of Jehovah's Witnesses in Italy.

As often happens in these cases, the editorial staff who so eagerly published the "clickbait" news, were not so quick to correct it. Even those who did correct it, published it at the bottom of the article where probably for two reasons no one will actually even read it: first of all, those who read the article don’t go back and read it a second time, secondly, in order to get to the bottom of the page they have to get through a series of exhausting "advertising obstacles", which test the readers’ patience as they are always keen to move on to the next news item ...

The end result is that once again, despite everything, the lie will have taken root and the prejudice will have been fed even more. This does not surprise us and will not prevent us from continuing to fight against this serious and dangerous phenomenon.

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STATEMENT OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

We are very saddened to learn about the tragic deaths of our fellow worshippers Guido Martinelli and Vittorina Spadi, and their daughter Roberta Martinelli, who was not one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Our thoughts go out to their family, friends, and all those who knew them within their community.

To be clear, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not opposed to vaccination. Our position regarding vaccinations is clearly stated on our official website (www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jw-vaccines-immunization/). We view vaccination as a personal decision. Many of Jehovah’s Witnesses choose to get vaccinated. In fact, 99% of the 20,994 individuals working at our offices worldwide are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Jehovah’s Witnesses have released a number of statements and videos over the course of the pandemic to encourage vaccination. Officials in some countries have even acknowledged our position. For example, Canada placed a link to one of our videos on their official government website relating to travel requirements.

Jehovah’s Witnesses value their health and the welfare of their community. For this reason, reminders have been published in hundreds of languages on our website encouraging readers around the globe to adhere to government mandates and local safety guidelines regarding the pandemic.