Video of Anti-Vaxxer Spreading False COVID Vaccine Claims at a Muslim Center Draws Outrage

A video of an anti-vaccine activist trying to dissuade people at a Muslim community center from taking the COVID-19 vaccine is causing a stir online. The anti-vaxxer, who identifies himself as a Muslim, screams untruths about the treatment being sacrilege to their religion.

"This vaccine is poison! This vaccine is going to change your DNA!" The man screams at those nearby outside the center. The exact whereabouts of the incident have not been confirmed by Newsweek at this time, though a message was sent to the person who posted the video on Reddit. Based on the accents of the activist and a person working at the center, as well as the architecture in the background, one might surmise the location is in the United Kingdom. In addition, the anti-vaxxer implored people to "stop listening to the BBC."

Below is the video shared on Reddit. Be warned it contains claims proven to be fraudulent about the vaccine.

Among the other unproven, or patently proven to be false, statements the man makes about the vaccine is that is can cause infertility, that it is cultured from aborted fetuses, and that it uses animal DNA from pigs, monkeys, and "all kinds of other animals."

One of the more outlandish claims the man makes is that it contains formaldehyde, barium and other heavy metals. He says In the video, he says, "These metals are going to travel in our [human body] systems. It's going to travel to the brain. People are going to lose their minds, develop tumors, brain cancer."

Many of the comments in the Reddit threat are too offensive or profanity-laced to post here, but they ranged from anger to mockery. An example of the latter, written with a humorous slant was the message: "Duh...idiot! Babies are made of metals like barium."

When another man in the video, presumably a worker at the center, approaches the anti-vaxxer in a friendly attempt to calm him down, a discussion between the two begins. The tension quickly escalates.

Warning that the vaccine is going to harm people in their community, the anti-vaccine activist states emphatically that the information he is sharing was "proven by health experts, and I mean I'm talking about the World Alliance of Doctors! The World Alliance of Doctors are thousands of doctors across the world!"

The existence of a body of professionals identified as the "World Alliance of Doctors" could not be found. The man may have be referring to a group of doctors and healthcare workers--of whom, less than a dozen are identified--called the World Doctors Alliance. On their website, the alliance describe themselves as an independent nonprofit group of health professionals who have united to end lockdowns. In October, they posted a 30-minute-long video that contains various false statement about the coronavirus. Their claims were quickly debunked by experts, though they never made mention of fetuses, monkey DNA, etc.

Experts in the United Kingdom have recently expressed concern about misinformation about the COVID vaccine within the Muslim community. Dr. Salman Waqar from the British Islamic Medical Association asked for Muslim community leaders to speak out against the false claims, and the Muslim Council of Britain has also been working to combat COVID disinformation spread on social media.

Judging by what he says in the Reddit-shared video, the anti-vaxxer certainly seems to have believed fraudulent information he came across from an untrustworthy source. After hearing nearly three minutes of his rants, the other man in the video loses his patience and tell the activist that he's on private private property and must leave.

As he's walking away, the anti-vaxxer leaves with some parting shots. He screams,"Every one of you who call yourselves Muslims are not Muslims! You are selling your people out! Shame on you!"

He also claims using the vaccine is Haram, which means it's forbidden by Islamic law. As one Reddit comment pointed out, the Pfizer vaccine was actually developed by Muslims. Those Muslims would be Dr. Ugur Sahin and Dr. Özlem Türeci, a Turkish-German married couple who founded BioNTech, the company that partnered with Pfizer to create a COVID vaccine.