Vladimír Krčméry, a Slovak expert on tropical diseases, has become one of the main faces of the campaign for vaccination against coronavirus. He has faced threats over this, and had to go abroad for a time for his safety.
The Slovak Health Ministry did not choose Professor Vladimir Krčméry for the vaccination campaign at random. Since the beginning of the pandemic, he has been very popular as an infectologist with a reputation as a lifelong fighter against tropical diseases.
Opponents of vaccination did not take much notice of Krčméry at first. But when he became the official face of vaccination, their attacks began to escalate. Dozens of hate e-mails a day and threats of physical destruction culminated in demonstrations outside Krčméry’s home this summer.
He’s used to shootings from Haiti and Africa.
The professor’s family also began to face threats. Although Krčméry himself takes the threats with some exaggeration and detachment, the threats against his family forced him to leave Slovakia for several months this summer. “I’m a bit used to it because I worked in Rwanda, Burundi and Haiti, where we were shot at every day, and in Burundi every week, so I wouldn’t mind. If they shoot you, they shoot you, and it’s holy peace,” the infectologist confided in a telephone interview with Seznam Zpravy.
But he found it unfair that his family also faced threats. “When thirty flag bearers meet in front of your house and then send e-mails threatening to kill your children…” doesn’t complete the sentence. Finally, he adds that even mafia families don’t behave that way. “My wife, my daughters and my son took it pretty badly. My son left Slovakia for some time and I left Slovakia for some time. Even some relatives left home because they did not feel safe,” he says.
Returning for another wave of covid
Krčméry, 61, worked with migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos and on the Hungarian-Austrian border after he left. “It didn’t bother me at all that I was a pendler for a while. It was a period when it was really impossible to stay here,” he explains.
He commuted to Slovakia from abroad for crisis staff meetings.
“I promised the minister that if the numbers were above 2,000, I would come back, and I did.”
There are currently around 4 700 cases of coronavirus infection in Slovakia every day. On Friday, 1,351 people were in hospital with covid-19, 47 more than in the twice-populous Czech Republic.
If the hate speech against his family continues, Krčmery is determined to leave Slovakia again. “If they shoot me, I will only gain from it. I’m a believer, and I believe I’m just visiting,” he says, outlining his confident outlook. He also says that he would rather tell the public unpleasant things about covid-19 that people don’t like to hear than “have a cemetery behind him.”
Otherwise, he says, there could be several hundred patients waiting for him among the plaintiffs at the last trial who could have lived. “If they want, let them shoot me,” Krcmery repeats several times.
At the same time, the expert praises the fact that the police leadership recently reclassified some threats from misdemeanors to felonies and that epidemiologists, doctors and paramedics are now considered protected persons. “That’s when it started to fade. I haven’t received a threatening email in the last four days, which is the first time in a year. Otherwise, sometimes 30 to 50 come in a day,” he outlines the level of hate he faces.
In addition, calls for him to be shot or burned have been circulating on the internet. Apart from Slovakia, the messages came from Hungary and Poland. No death threats came from the Czech Republic.
Police have already managed to identify some of the perpetrators, half of whom, according to Krčméry, are people who cannot be prosecuted because of their mental health. “The other part are stressed and frightened people who are aggressive because they don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after. It’s just that some things cannot be predicted,” the professor explains.
But the attacks on scientists in Slovakia have not stopped. Many of Krčméry’s colleagues have also faced demonstrations outside their homes. Recently, a mannequin of Mikasa with a noose around his neck appeared in front of the office of the chief hygienist, Ján Mikasa. A week earlier, vaccine opponents and pandemic deniers drove a truckload of manure in front of the sanitary inspectors’ headquarters. Krcmery remarks that sometimes it is necessary to take such things with humour.
However, as a member of the consortium that advises the government on how to proceed during a pandemic, he cannot afford to go to a restaurant in Slovakia.
“That’s completely out of the question – neither I nor the eight members of the consilium can. Some restaurants have people on their menus and sometimes even photographs of people they do not serve. They feel we’ve ruined their business,” he says. “I can’t afford to go into a restaurant because I would be physically attacked immediately,” Krcmery adds.
He says it is common for people to shout at him, call him names and threaten him when he walks past a pub or restaurant. “It also happened to me that they pulled a gun on me. The situation was bad in the summer,” he says.
When he goes out, he looks around
Krcmery didn’t and doesn’t have police protection, although he was offered it. He says that every policeman is now needed either at the border or to check compliance with anti-epidemic measures. When I go out, I look around carefully. On the recommendation of the police, I have taken the test for a firearms passport.”
The infectologist does not see the solution to the situation in police protection or in carrying a gun. “Sick people are everywhere. If they don’t want me in Slovakia, I will go to help my colleagues in the Czech Republic, Austria or Hungary. There are also patients with covid there,” he explains.
He also talks about the possibility of helping in Uganda at the Czech-Slovak hospital there, which is run by Professor Zdeněk Ráčil from Prague. “The vaccination rate there is three percent, so I will go and campaign elsewhere and nothing will happen,” Krčméry outlines his alternatives.
At the same time, he hopes that he will not have to use a gun in self-defence and that the situation in Europe will not become dangerous like in the “third world”. “Although I want to say that Burundi, Haiti and Kenya are almost as dangerous as Slovakia,” he says ironically.
Two-fifths of Slovaks believe conspiracy theories
In Slovakia, nearly 44 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated, 13 percentage points lower than in the Czech Republic. Krčmery sees the weakening of authorities as one of the reasons. “The media has not left a dry thread on politicians, and if one were to ask who among them is trustworthy, virtually no one would. People don’t even listen to doctors, hygienists, public health officials, and then they regret it in hospitals,” the infectologist describes his professional experience.
According to a current survey in Slovakia, about two-fifths of the population believe in the four most popular conspiracies about coronavirus, including the one that the number of deaths after coronavirus infection is artificially inflated. The conspiracies are mainly believed by voters of the opposition parties Direction-Social Democracy of former Prime Minister Robert Fico and Kotleba’s People’s Party Our Slovakia, as well as the non-parliamentary party Republika.
“The high preoccupation of the Slovak population with conspiracy theories may be one very important explanation for the low vaccination rates,” said Robert Klobucky of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The sentiments of Slovaks in the pandemic are being studied by MNFORCE, Seesame and the Academy.
The anti-vax movement is Slovakia seems to be well coordinated.
I’m fully vaccinated and right now I want to open the country, exactly as the antivaxxers do. Let nature do the rest.
It’s a propaganda piece, putting this paid government mouthpiece on a pedestal, there are regular stories like this in Ireland & it’s all bullshit, sadly the people repeatedly fall for it…odd how no one ever gets arrested for the ‘threats’ isn’t it?
And he had to disappear instead of the people threatening him? What?
We haven’t progressed at all since the age of witch burnings.
Slovakia, why are you so funky? 😀
That’s because basically all opposition parties (mafia and fascism) is antivax and anticovid, because they easily earn popularity from it… and they are rapidly gaining preferences, because people are stupid here and tend to believe every fake information they read on social media. Social media like Facebook is also to blame, because they won’t do nothing about it. You can report false news, fake accounts as I do regularly, when I see it and response is zero. Month later and you still see same fake accounts posting or commenting same sh*t. There is even official Police facebook page made mainly to stop this fake information, but even if they do report some false information about covid or vaccination on page in their posts, you can still see them even week later on FB.
Antivaxxers are dangerous.
>”I’m a bit used to it because I worked in Rwanda, Burundi and Haiti, where we were shot at every day, and in Burundi every week, so I wouldn’t mind. If they shoot you, they shoot you, and it’s holy peace,” the infectologist confided in a telephone interview with Seznam Zpravy.
>
>But he found it unfair that his family also faced threats. “When thirty flag bearers meet in front of your house and then send e-mails threatening to kill your children…” doesn’t complete the sentence.
So, my understanding, is that he says Slovakia is a more unsafe place than Rwanda, Burundi, Haiti. It’s pretty impressive.
We live in such backwards countries, man. President of Latvian Medical Association literally said that face masks are bad for schoolchildren. Go figure..
I miss the times when the crazies were harmless idiot Americans wearing tin foil on their head to stop CIA from reading their minds, or the bigfoot and area 52 lot.
Antivaxers are a scourge though. There’s nothing wrong in questioning your own government but when it becomes as pathetic as spreading misinformation deliberately, or being dumb enough to think there’s some new world order where all the doctors, scientists et al are in on it, is quite frankly, _pathetic_. I wouldn’t care so much if these idiots just didn’t have the vaccine and left it at that (sure, they’re allowed a choice _but_ I also think carehome nurses need to get it or find another job, since their rights don’t trump the vulnerable that they’re meant to be protecting) but shit like this article or everything else we see where they go out their way to show everyone their low IQ, has become problem. They like to call others sheep, as they flock in big crowds bleating at innocent people wearing a mask, or getting upset what _others_ do with their own body because some self proclaimed “doctor” on youtube told them too.
Antivaxxers: My body my choice, everyone should be able to choose what they do with their body and there should be no shaming for your decision!
Also antivaxxers:
If only.major leftwing parties were not antivax, then we would have higer.vaccination rate.
Never underestimate the potential stupidity in people XD
Right-wing antivaxxers are stupid, no matter what country they’re in.
That’s nice. Stay civil and classy, antivaxxers. /s
18 comments
Vladimír Krčméry, a Slovak expert on tropical diseases, has become one of the main faces of the campaign for vaccination against coronavirus. He has faced threats over this, and had to go abroad for a time for his safety.
The Slovak Health Ministry did not choose Professor Vladimir Krčméry for the vaccination campaign at random. Since the beginning of the pandemic, he has been very popular as an infectologist with a reputation as a lifelong fighter against tropical diseases.
Opponents of vaccination did not take much notice of Krčméry at first. But when he became the official face of vaccination, their attacks began to escalate. Dozens of hate e-mails a day and threats of physical destruction culminated in demonstrations outside Krčméry’s home this summer.
He’s used to shootings from Haiti and Africa.
The professor’s family also began to face threats. Although Krčméry himself takes the threats with some exaggeration and detachment, the threats against his family forced him to leave Slovakia for several months this summer. “I’m a bit used to it because I worked in Rwanda, Burundi and Haiti, where we were shot at every day, and in Burundi every week, so I wouldn’t mind. If they shoot you, they shoot you, and it’s holy peace,” the infectologist confided in a telephone interview with Seznam Zpravy.
But he found it unfair that his family also faced threats. “When thirty flag bearers meet in front of your house and then send e-mails threatening to kill your children…” doesn’t complete the sentence. Finally, he adds that even mafia families don’t behave that way. “My wife, my daughters and my son took it pretty badly. My son left Slovakia for some time and I left Slovakia for some time. Even some relatives left home because they did not feel safe,” he says.
Returning for another wave of covid
Krčméry, 61, worked with migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos and on the Hungarian-Austrian border after he left. “It didn’t bother me at all that I was a pendler for a while. It was a period when it was really impossible to stay here,” he explains.
He commuted to Slovakia from abroad for crisis staff meetings.
“I promised the minister that if the numbers were above 2,000, I would come back, and I did.”
There are currently around 4 700 cases of coronavirus infection in Slovakia every day. On Friday, 1,351 people were in hospital with covid-19, 47 more than in the twice-populous Czech Republic.
If the hate speech against his family continues, Krčmery is determined to leave Slovakia again. “If they shoot me, I will only gain from it. I’m a believer, and I believe I’m just visiting,” he says, outlining his confident outlook. He also says that he would rather tell the public unpleasant things about covid-19 that people don’t like to hear than “have a cemetery behind him.”
Otherwise, he says, there could be several hundred patients waiting for him among the plaintiffs at the last trial who could have lived. “If they want, let them shoot me,” Krcmery repeats several times.
At the same time, the expert praises the fact that the police leadership recently reclassified some threats from misdemeanors to felonies and that epidemiologists, doctors and paramedics are now considered protected persons. “That’s when it started to fade. I haven’t received a threatening email in the last four days, which is the first time in a year. Otherwise, sometimes 30 to 50 come in a day,” he outlines the level of hate he faces.
In addition, calls for him to be shot or burned have been circulating on the internet. Apart from Slovakia, the messages came from Hungary and Poland. No death threats came from the Czech Republic.
Police have already managed to identify some of the perpetrators, half of whom, according to Krčméry, are people who cannot be prosecuted because of their mental health. “The other part are stressed and frightened people who are aggressive because they don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after. It’s just that some things cannot be predicted,” the professor explains.
But the attacks on scientists in Slovakia have not stopped. Many of Krčméry’s colleagues have also faced demonstrations outside their homes. Recently, a mannequin of Mikasa with a noose around his neck appeared in front of the office of the chief hygienist, Ján Mikasa. A week earlier, vaccine opponents and pandemic deniers drove a truckload of manure in front of the sanitary inspectors’ headquarters. Krcmery remarks that sometimes it is necessary to take such things with humour.
However, as a member of the consortium that advises the government on how to proceed during a pandemic, he cannot afford to go to a restaurant in Slovakia.
“That’s completely out of the question – neither I nor the eight members of the consilium can. Some restaurants have people on their menus and sometimes even photographs of people they do not serve. They feel we’ve ruined their business,” he says. “I can’t afford to go into a restaurant because I would be physically attacked immediately,” Krcmery adds.
He says it is common for people to shout at him, call him names and threaten him when he walks past a pub or restaurant. “It also happened to me that they pulled a gun on me. The situation was bad in the summer,” he says.
When he goes out, he looks around
Krcmery didn’t and doesn’t have police protection, although he was offered it. He says that every policeman is now needed either at the border or to check compliance with anti-epidemic measures. When I go out, I look around carefully. On the recommendation of the police, I have taken the test for a firearms passport.”
The infectologist does not see the solution to the situation in police protection or in carrying a gun. “Sick people are everywhere. If they don’t want me in Slovakia, I will go to help my colleagues in the Czech Republic, Austria or Hungary. There are also patients with covid there,” he explains.
He also talks about the possibility of helping in Uganda at the Czech-Slovak hospital there, which is run by Professor Zdeněk Ráčil from Prague. “The vaccination rate there is three percent, so I will go and campaign elsewhere and nothing will happen,” Krčméry outlines his alternatives.
At the same time, he hopes that he will not have to use a gun in self-defence and that the situation in Europe will not become dangerous like in the “third world”. “Although I want to say that Burundi, Haiti and Kenya are almost as dangerous as Slovakia,” he says ironically.
Two-fifths of Slovaks believe conspiracy theories
In Slovakia, nearly 44 percent of the population is now fully vaccinated, 13 percentage points lower than in the Czech Republic. Krčmery sees the weakening of authorities as one of the reasons. “The media has not left a dry thread on politicians, and if one were to ask who among them is trustworthy, virtually no one would. People don’t even listen to doctors, hygienists, public health officials, and then they regret it in hospitals,” the infectologist describes his professional experience.
According to a current survey in Slovakia, about two-fifths of the population believe in the four most popular conspiracies about coronavirus, including the one that the number of deaths after coronavirus infection is artificially inflated. The conspiracies are mainly believed by voters of the opposition parties Direction-Social Democracy of former Prime Minister Robert Fico and Kotleba’s People’s Party Our Slovakia, as well as the non-parliamentary party Republika.
“The high preoccupation of the Slovak population with conspiracy theories may be one very important explanation for the low vaccination rates,” said Robert Klobucky of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. The sentiments of Slovaks in the pandemic are being studied by MNFORCE, Seesame and the Academy.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Holy moly, people are crazy.
the level of hate is mindboggling
This is month-old news (first came out [29 September](https://www.topky.sk/cl/10/2190115/Krcmery-sa-po-utokoch-rozhodol-pre-razny-krok–Ukryva-sa-v-zahranici–dovodom-su-dezolati-)), but that does not make it any less serious.
The anti-vax movement is Slovakia seems to be well coordinated.
I’m fully vaccinated and right now I want to open the country, exactly as the antivaxxers do. Let nature do the rest.
It’s a propaganda piece, putting this paid government mouthpiece on a pedestal, there are regular stories like this in Ireland & it’s all bullshit, sadly the people repeatedly fall for it…odd how no one ever gets arrested for the ‘threats’ isn’t it?
And he had to disappear instead of the people threatening him? What?
We haven’t progressed at all since the age of witch burnings.
Slovakia, why are you so funky? 😀
That’s because basically all opposition parties (mafia and fascism) is antivax and anticovid, because they easily earn popularity from it… and they are rapidly gaining preferences, because people are stupid here and tend to believe every fake information they read on social media. Social media like Facebook is also to blame, because they won’t do nothing about it. You can report false news, fake accounts as I do regularly, when I see it and response is zero. Month later and you still see same fake accounts posting or commenting same sh*t. There is even official Police facebook page made mainly to stop this fake information, but even if they do report some false information about covid or vaccination on page in their posts, you can still see them even week later on FB.
Antivaxxers are dangerous.
>”I’m a bit used to it because I worked in Rwanda, Burundi and Haiti, where we were shot at every day, and in Burundi every week, so I wouldn’t mind. If they shoot you, they shoot you, and it’s holy peace,” the infectologist confided in a telephone interview with Seznam Zpravy.
>
>But he found it unfair that his family also faced threats. “When thirty flag bearers meet in front of your house and then send e-mails threatening to kill your children…” doesn’t complete the sentence.
So, my understanding, is that he says Slovakia is a more unsafe place than Rwanda, Burundi, Haiti. It’s pretty impressive.
We live in such backwards countries, man. President of Latvian Medical Association literally said that face masks are bad for schoolchildren. Go figure..
I miss the times when the crazies were harmless idiot Americans wearing tin foil on their head to stop CIA from reading their minds, or the bigfoot and area 52 lot.
Antivaxers are a scourge though. There’s nothing wrong in questioning your own government but when it becomes as pathetic as spreading misinformation deliberately, or being dumb enough to think there’s some new world order where all the doctors, scientists et al are in on it, is quite frankly, _pathetic_. I wouldn’t care so much if these idiots just didn’t have the vaccine and left it at that (sure, they’re allowed a choice _but_ I also think carehome nurses need to get it or find another job, since their rights don’t trump the vulnerable that they’re meant to be protecting) but shit like this article or everything else we see where they go out their way to show everyone their low IQ, has become problem. They like to call others sheep, as they flock in big crowds bleating at innocent people wearing a mask, or getting upset what _others_ do with their own body because some self proclaimed “doctor” on youtube told them too.
Antivaxxers: My body my choice, everyone should be able to choose what they do with their body and there should be no shaming for your decision!
Also antivaxxers:
If only.major leftwing parties were not antivax, then we would have higer.vaccination rate.
Never underestimate the potential stupidity in people XD
Right-wing antivaxxers are stupid, no matter what country they’re in.
That’s nice. Stay civil and classy, antivaxxers. /s