Anti-vaccine/anti-mask protester, August 2021

Three right wing radio hosts who railed against COVID vaccinations and masks have died of COVID just in the past month. They are Phil Valentine, Dick Farrel and Marc Bernier. They are joined by other prominent right wingers, including Caleb Wallace, a self-described anti-mask “freedom fighter” who treated himself with the livestock deworming medicine Ivermectin and died of COVID last Saturday at age 30, and H. Scott Apley, a Texas Republican Official who criticized and mocked COVID vaccinations, and who died of COVID in early August at age 45. It is unknown how many others these conservatives in the spotlight caused to die by influencing their followers not to get vaccinated and/or wear masks in public places.

Examples of the diatribes of these dead conservatives include Marc Bernier’s last tweet (his Twitter account has now been deleted), in which Bernier, referring to Democratic government officials who exhort Americans to get vaccinated, wrote:”Now the US Government is acting like Nazi’s” [sic]. Likewise, as to Phil Valentine, according to WTVF NewsChannel 5, Nashville, TN:

In December of 2020 he tweeted “I have a very low risk of A) Getting COVID and B) dying of it if I do. Why would I risk getting a heart attack or paralysis by getting the vaccine?”

He even recorded a parody song – Vaxman – mocking the vaccine.