VaccinesNation of Islam Pushes Anti-COVID-19 Vaccine Message, Conspiracy Theories
Months before the first COVID-19 vaccine began to be distributed in the United States, the Nation of Islam (NOI) had already widely disseminated its directive that Black people refuse the vaccine. Through all of this, the NOI has exploited legitimate concerns and distrust about the history of medical experimentation on marginalized communities in the United States in order to promote conspiratorial claims about a government-sponsored depopulation plot that targets Black people.
Months before the first COVID-19 vaccine began to be distributed in the United States, the Nation of Islam (NOI) had already widely disseminated its directive that Black people refuse the vaccine. Over a year later, the NOI and its leading members have continued their unrelenting promotion of anti-vaccine messages in social media posts, print materials, sermons and beyond. More recently, anti-vaccine advocacy has led NOI members to collaborate with and be promoted by various individuals and groups outside of the NOI, including conspiracy theorists and QAnon proponents.
Despite sometimes holding significantly different views about other aspects of the pandemic or their ideologies more broadly, a shared commitment to protesting the vaccine, as well as a distrust of the government and mainstream media, has facilitated these joint efforts. Through all of this, the NOI has exploited legitimate concerns and distrust about the history of medical experimentation on marginalized communities in the United States in order to promote conspiratorial claims about a government-sponsored depopulation plot that targets Black people.
Background
Advocating against vaccines is a familiar strategy for the NOI. In the 1960s, NOI leader Elijah Muhammad instructed his followers to reject the polio vaccine. In the mid-2010s, the NOI revived its anti-vaccine advocacy under leader Louis Farrakhan with a focus on the disproven allegation that vaccines are linked to autism in children. Early in the coronavirus pandemic, NOI leaders and members again began to revisit the topic of vaccines, including promoting conspiratorial claims that the COVID-19 vaccine was part of an agenda to kill Black people.
On July 4, 2020, Farrakhan delivered a highly-publicized speech in which he instructed Black people in the U.S. and around the world: “Don’t take the vaccines…Don’t let them vaccinate you, with their history of treachery through vaccines, through medication.” He claimed that the vaccines were part of a depopulation plot sponsored by the U.S. government, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Bill and Melinda Gates, among others. “We will not accept your vaccine,” Farrakhan continued, “because we’re not accepting death.” Farrakhan further claimed that any attempt to force Black people to take the vaccine would be considered “a declaration of war.” Within days, the speech had received over one million views online.
