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to the staff in montreal’s intensive care units, the virus is only too real, and when thousands march in the streets claiming that the pandemic is an elaborate hoax and that vaccinations are more dangerous than covid-19, the sight fills them with dread.
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conspiracy theories littered his facebook feed, including a video by dan pilon, the influencer we looked at in part 3 of this series , warning that the vaccines would contain microchips.
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there is a link between beliefs in conspiracy theories and mental health. in a may 2020 study, ecuadorian researchers found that distressed and anxious health-care workers were more likely to believe conspiracy theories. people who lack control over a situation — be it the stock market or the path of a pandemic — are also more likely to see patterns that aren’t there and engage in superstitious thinking, according to another study conducted by researchers from the university of texas and northwestern university.
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“belief in covid-related conspiracy theories predicts resistance to both preventive behaviours and future vaccination for the virus,” university of pennsylvania researchers wrote in an october paper , one of many published over the past year that has concluded that people who consume disinformation or believe conspiracy theories are less likely to social distance or take other precautions to prevent covid-19 from spreading.
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