He additionally stated whereas he had been vaccinated as a toddler, "I personally by no means get vaccinated for the flu, as a result of no." Duda
He additionally stated whereas he had been vaccinated as a toddler, “I personally by no means get vaccinated for the flu, as a result of no.”
Duda was instantly lambasted by the opposition. In an effort to stroll again the feedback, he tweeted: “STOP MANIPULATING” and defined he wasn’t in opposition to necessary vaccinations for illnesses like “polio, tuberculosis and scarlet fever.” There is not any vaccination for scarlet fever.
In his response to Duda, rival candidate Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski harassed there isn’t a present vaccine in opposition to coronavirus, however added, “It’s arduous for me to think about a state of affairs the place the federal government will mandate that grownup individuals get vaccinated.”
Backed by the nationalist authorities below the Regulation and Justice get together, Duda is preventing tooth and nail in opposition to the centrist Trzaskowski in Sunday’s run-off vote, which can determine who will likely be Poland’s subsequent president till 2025.
With most up-to-date polls displaying the 2 separated by a statistically insignificant margin, each are scrambling to succeed in out to voters simply past their base. In Duda’s case, that outreach extends to the far proper, the place vaccine skepticism is rife.
The far-right’s presidential candidate, Krzysztof Bosak, gained 1.three million votes within the first spherical of the presidential election on June 28. How his voters swing this Sunday may determine the run-off.
A current ballot, carried out by Ipsos for the unbiased information outlet Oko Press, confirmed far-right voters are break up 44 % to 34 % in Duda’s favor — however as many as 22 % are nonetheless undecided.
In the meantime, Poland’s anti-vaccination motion, STOP NOP, held a rally in Warsaw final month with a far-right MP Grzegorz Braun attending. STOP NOP’s leaders, Justyna Socha and Piotr Jawornik, are Braun’s aides.
Based on Marcin Zaród, a sociologist of science on the College of Warsaw, the variety of Polish newborns with dad and mom who reject vaccinations for non-medical causes is about 50,000 a 12 months.
“The anti-vaccination motion and the far-right are shut to one another of their rejection of the liberal state,” he stated. He known as out Duda for “undermining not solely his personal well being but additionally public well being security.”
The variety of individuals in Poland rejecting vaccinations has grown three-fold since 2015, based on information from Poland’s Nationwide Well being Institute.
“Each time someone with authority says what President Duda stated, the variety of individuals dodging vaccinations grows,” stated Tomasz Dzieciątkowski, a virologist on the Medical College of Warsaw.
“This is also taking purpose on the primary economics of inhabitants well being,” he added. “A tuberculosis vaccine prices 4-5 złoty [around €1]. Treating a affected person with TB may last as long as six months and price 10,000-12,000 złoty, not counting prices like absence from work.”