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WIU LEJA Professor, Student Pen Security Magazine Article: "COVID-19, Anti-Vaxxers and Moving Forward Together"

December 10, 2021

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From Nov. 17, 2021 Security Magazine

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – By November 2021, COVID-19 killed five million people worldwide, with 750,000 deaths in the United States.

Western Illinois University Law Enforcement and Justice Administration (LEJA) Professor Dean Alexander, who also leads WIU's Homeland Security Research Program, and LEJA Student Caden Buettner, a senior from Lasalle (IL), recently researched issues relative to those individuals opposed to COVID-19 vaccines, particularly fringe actors who conduct threats or undertake violence related to the vaccine and other COVID-related protocols. Their work was recently published in the November issue of Security magazine. This is the 10th piece published by Alexander and one of his current and/or former LEJA students, which gives students an excellent opportunity to showcase their knowledge learned in the classroom, Alexander added.

According to Alexander and Buettner, the reasons for refusing to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine vary greatly; however, some of the more common rationalizations include individuals believing that the vaccines don't work or cause more damage than the virus itself; the vaccines haven't been studied enough; requiring a vaccine impinges upon one's freedom (the "my body, my choice" argument); they contain microchips and/or will alter a person's DNA; and are part of an effort to control the population.

"These arguments are made by well-meaning individuals to those less so, and some of the latter may even support violence against others who have different perspectives," Alexander added. "It's important to differentiate between those who take an anti-vaccine stance with others who break the law trying to advance a cause."

The pair shared in the article that anti-vaxxers and others lament the inadequate attention given to natural immunity in the population. In October 2021, a conservative radio show host said he purposely sought to get COVID-19 (and he did), doing so 'in the hope that I would achieve natural immunity and be taken care of by therapeutics." Such an approach isn't ideal as one study found unvaccinated persons have a 29 times greater chance to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than a vaccinated person.

Alexander and Buettner note that the social stigma of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in regions of the country has pushed some patients to go as far as going in disguise to get their shots and want complete assurance that their vaccine status isn't disclosed.

"For individuals to pursue such steps underscores how caustic the COVID-19 inoculation debate has become. Along these same lines, many anti-vaxxers might use false COVID-19 immunization cards as more mandates are adopted. This is done to avoid the vaccination while appearing otherwise and, thereby, keep their jobs," Buettner shared. "In one such instance, Vermont State troopers resigned following their use of fake COVID-19 immunization cards, and federal agents in Seattle seized fake COVID-19 immunization cards bound to Idaho."

According to the article penned by the pair, misinformation about COVID-19 is disseminated extensively online and on cable and broadcast networks. Conspiracies project "power from being seemingly everywhere at once, simultaneously unprovable and unimpeachable." Anti-vaxxers have claimed a Tennessee-based nurse died following getting a COVID-19 vaccine, while truth of the matter was she had a fainting response. Nevertheless, this untruth continues to be spread across social media. In addition, anti-vaxxers have used the medication intended for use in horses (Ivermectin), as opposed to getting the vaccine which may cost them their lives.

"Straight talk is critical in overcoming misinformation about COVID-19, including the overall protection of the vaccine over its non-use are strongly grounded in science, and the fact that a booster may be required for some, as with other selected vaccines, does not mean the COVID-19 vaccine is not an effective instrument," Alexander pointed out. "Attacks on COVID-19 public health pronouncements (partially) arose because the data government officials looked at when they made their projects were not complete at the time as the virus continued to evolve. These public health guideline, some of which were modified later, were characterized by opponents as proof that officials did not know what they were doing or purposefully misrepresented data. In reality, neither of those things were the case."

Particular anti-vaxxers have adopted radicalism with participation in the January 6, 2021 siege at the U.S. Capitol. As with QAnon, Stop the Steal and other ideologies attracting candidates for political office, so too, the anti-vax matrix is enticing individuals to seek office. These developments may contribute to further chasms in an already turbulent political climate. Upon election to office, they will attain political power and possibly attempt to undermine legitimate COVID-19 efforts.

"Fringe elements of the anti-vax community argue the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a United Nations plan to establish a New World Order. Far-right anti-vaxxers refer to themselves as purebloods, and the anti-lockdown movement has also attracted the participation of white nationalists, conspiracy theorists, anti-government militias, members of a neo-fascist street gang and other assorted extremists and scam artists," Buettner noted. "In spite of the rise of these fringe groups, tolerance for anti-vaxxers is waning."

Other fringe anti-vax 'resistance' efforts straddle or cross legal limits, including their actions against health and other employees. Indeed, anti-vax harassment, threats, and disruptions have been varied since the pandemic's arrival, the article stated.

"The pandemic has triggered antipathy among some anti-vaxxers towards healthcare workers. So much so that these public servants have been maligned, threatened or worse by disparate folks who perceive COVID restrictions and vaccination mandates being legitimized by them," the authors added. "These pillars of society are even being designated as public enemies within some anti-vaxxer groups, who are also involved with intimidation and threats of violence. At a pharmacy in Canada in September 2021, a man punched a nurse in the face, her alleged mistake: administering a COVID-19 vaccine to his wife without the husband's consent, while a woman in Tennessee drove her SUV towards health workers and National Guard employees who staffed a COVID administration vaccine event."

The article also cites numerous examples of threats and intimidation toward school board members and school officials for their mask and other mandates in place surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Pandemic views can be grounded in self-crafted, moral convictions, and by doing so, incivility towards opposing views can be done more easily and with a greater self-anointed moral justification than otherwise," Alexander and Buettner concluded. "Unfortunately, this is a reality we find ourselves facing. It is difficult, though possible, to affirm one's adherence to a belief while simultaneously allowing for openness when data demonstrate realities other than one actually believed emerge. Ultimately, COVID-19, as other hazards, is a risk that needs to be managed. It is a peril that cannot be eliminated nor denied to exist. As such, current and emerging scientifically-based solutions to reduce the breadth and lethality of COVID-19 should be pursued vigorously. Moreover, our common objective should be to attack the virus, not each other."

About the Authors

Alexander can be reached at DC-Alexander@wiu.edu. He has been a member of the WIU School of LEJA since 2005. His former students work at police departments, government agencies (FBI, Department of Homeland Security and State Department) and risk management firms across the United States. His teaching, research and speaking activities encompass terrorism, security and legal issues, and he has lectured in 10 countries, including to law enforcement and military officials at North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), U.S. State Department and National Intelligence University events. Since publishing on terrorism in 1991, Alexander has written several books on the subject, including: Family Terror Networks (2019), The Islamic State: Combating the Caliphate Without Borders (Lexington, 2015), Business Confronts Terrorism: Risks and Responses (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), and Terrorism and Business: The Impact of September 11, 2001 (Transnational, 2002).

Buettner is a senior law enforcement and justice administration major, with minors in security administration, criminalistics and homeland security. At WIU, he is the Attorney General for WIU's Student Government Association (SGA) and is the founder/president WIU for St. Jude, the Fellowship of Leathernecks Assisting Shriners Hospitals (FLASH) and the Leatherneck Presbyterian Alliance. Buettner is also learning Arabic to become fluent in reading and writing in this language. Following graduation, he plans to work for federal law enforcement.





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