#alternate alternate Jump to content Subscribe (BUTTON) Login (BUTTON) (BUTTON) (BUTTON) Subscribe (BUTTON) Login (BUTTON) * News + UK + World + US + UK Politics + Brexit + Tech + Science + Education + Health + Business + InFact * Independent TV * Climate + SGI + COP26 + Climate News + Climate Voices + Climate Life + InFact Climate * Sport + Football + Formula 1 + Boxing + Rugby Union + Cricket + MMA * Voices + Stop the Illegal Wildlife Trade + Editorials + Letters + Shaparak Khorsandi + Mary Dejevsky + Mark Steel + Janet Street-Porter + John Rentoul + Sean O’Grady + Tom Peck * Culture + Film + Music + TV & Radio + Books + Art + Photography + Theatre & Dance + Streaming Hub + Games + Geoffrey Macnab + Clarisse Loughrey + Ed Cumming + Crosswords & puzzles * Premium + John Rentoul + Mary Dejevsky + Chris Blackhurst + Marie Le Conte * indy/life + Travel + Women + Fashion & beauty + Food & Drink + Dating & relationships + Health & fitness + Royal Family + Tech + Money + Design & home + Motoring * IndyBest + Home & garden + Kids + Books + Travel & outdoors + Fashion & Beauty + Food & Drink + Tech + Sports & Fitness + Competitions + Deals + Compare + Christmas + Boxing Day Sales * indy100 * My Independent + Most commented + Ask Me Anything + Virtual Events + Newsletters + Competitions * Vouchers + Samsung + Very + MADE + Oliver Bonas + eBay + TUI + Nike + ASOS + Footasylum + Size + AO.com + Gousto + Vodafone + Gym King + Audible + Cyber Week * Compare + Best Broadband Deals + BT Broadband Deals + Virgin Media Broadband Deals + NOW Broadband Deals + All Broadband Providers + Mobile phone deals + SIM Only Deals + iPhone Deals + Best UK Mobile Networks (BUTTON) (BUTTON) (BUTTON) (BUTTON) * UK Edition * US Edition * Asia Edition * Edición en Español {{#items}} * {{#edition}}{{/edition}}{{title}}{{#children}} {{/children}} {{#children}} {{{children}}} {{/children}} {{/items}} NewsWorldAmericas Anti-vax ‘vigilantes’ urge Covid patients to avoid hospitals and try home cures ‘Vigilante medicine’, where traditional medicine is shunned in favour of bizarre online advice, is spreading Bevan Hurley In New York Friday 24 September 2021 21:46 [spinner_on_black.gif] Comments (BUTTON) (BUTTON) Article bookmarked Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile [ ] Don't show me this message again ✕ ✕ Close Two hosts of ‘The View’ test positive for Covid-19 ahead of interview with Kamala Harris Leer en Español Anti-vax groups are telling Covid patients to avoid hospitals and extract sick family members from intensive care units, as part of an intensifying disinformation campaign being spread via Facebook and encrypted messaging apps. The groups are fuelling conspiracy theories that doctors are stopping unvaccinated patients from receiving supposed miracle cures such as ivermectin or even deliberately trying to harm them, according to posts viewed by NBC News. Doctors treating Covid patients say they are increasingly having to deal with assaults and threats of violence from anti-vaxxers, with incidents reported in Texas, Georgia, Idaho and Massachusetts in recent weeks. Recommended * ‘Please get your vaccine’: YouTuber hits out at anti-vaxx movement as he dies of Covid * Gisele Bundchen defends Doutzen Kroes’ anti-vaxx post * Anti-vaxx US radio host who mocked AIDS victims dies of Covid-19 complications According to posts viewed by NBC News, members of anti-vax Facebook groups are offering instructions on how to get family members removed from hospital by insisting they be transferred to hospice care, and have recorded videos of apparently successful extractions that have later gone viral. They convince members the only way to treat patients suffering from severe Covi symptoms is to self-medicate with ivermectin, a horse dewormer which has become popular in anti-vax circles. When that doesn’t work they recommend potentially even more dangerous treatments such as gargling iodine or taking hydrogen peroxide, forcing the the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to warn against nebulising or inhaling the chemical earlier this week. DO NOT put hydrogen peroxide into your nebulizer and breathe it in. This is dangerous. It is not a way to prevent nor treat COVID-19. Visit https://t.co/HuKfjT5HLq for information about asthma, allergies, and COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/PT8ZaAFbUi — AAFA National (@AAFANational) September 21, 2021 The more dangerous at-home treatments are part of what anti-vaxxers call the “protocol”, which is being shared through Facebook and on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. The practice of pushing unproven treatments at home rather than get the Covid vaccine or seek medical misinformation is being described as “vigilante medicine” by Harvard Medical School physician Aditi Nerurkar. Dr Nerurkar described “vigilante medicine” as “medicine being practised by laypeople who are reading groups created by other laypeople in echo chambers and silos that, likely, someone in the anti-vax movement is profiting from. Doctors are increasingly fearful for their safety after a wave of violent incidents reported in intensive care units across the US. A nurse in Newton, Massachusetts, told WHDH an out-of-control patient tried to gouge her eye out with his key. She said she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from dealing with violent Covid patients. In a separate incident at the same hospital, five nurses were attacked by one patient. In San Antonio, Texas, staff have been “cursed at, screamed at, threatened with bodily harm and even had knives pulled on them”, Jane McCurley, chief nursing executive for Methodist Healthcare System, told a press conference last week. Recommended * Anti-vaxxers storm Burger King in New York City * Model sparks outrage by revealing she’s forced to wear fat suit for plus-sized ads * Woman survives five days trapped in freezing car wreck by licking rainwater Doctors in Boise, Idaho, called police after the family member of a Covid patient threatened staff after they refused to treat the man with ivermectin. Social media companies have attempted to crack down on Covid misinformation being spread on their platforms, but anti-vax groups are getting around the restrictions by using innocuous-sounding codewords such as “dance parties”. 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More about anti-vaxxersvigilantesConspiracy TheoriesHospitalsCovid Join our new commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies [spinner_on_white.gif] Comments 1/1Anti-vax ‘vigilantes’ urge Covid patients to avoid hospitals (BUTTON) Anti-vax ‘vigilantes’ urge Covid patients to avoid hospitals Anti-vaxxers are instructing people how to get family members out of hospital AFP via Getty Images (BUTTON) (BUTTON) ✕ Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. (BUTTON) Subscribe Already subscribed? 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