Translation from Spanish…
To English. The origional article is in Italian and had Ad-Blocker pop ups etc. So I’ve C&Pd it for you.
Basically a leading Italian anti-vaxxer now regrets his position and feels he is directly responsible for many deaths.
My apologies for taking up such a large amount of the page.
Published by The World:
CLAUDIO MAZZON (CORRIERE DELLA SERA)
UpdatedFriday, 11 February 2022 - 07:41
“I converted when I saw a boy die in intensive care who had videos of my speeches on his mobile. There is a system behind the associations,” says the suspended doctor Pasquale Bacco.
Pasquale Bacco is a doctor who for two years was at the forefront of the anti-vaccines. In the squares and on the stages, his words, often violent, were pure gold for those millions of Italians who feed on conspiracy theories. Today Bacco is back with his feet on the ground and takes a look at what has happened in recent years. He is now convinced that Covid kills and that vaccines are the solution. He uses his voice today to really say what the world is like without vaccines.
Why did you change your mind? “When I saw a 29-year-old boy die of Covid. He had the videos of my rallies at the demonstrations of the unvaccinated on his mobile. The family told me that he was a fan of mine. They did not tell me with anger, on the contrary, and this hurt me even more. I feel like that death was my fault. And the thing still bothers me today. It wasn’t a creed for me. When I saw the reality with my own eyes, I realized I was wrong.”
How did you become one of the anti-vaccine leaders? “I was one of the first. I was the only young doctor with experience. What I said was pure gold for people who are afraid and seek certainty. I did all the steps, all the meetings, I spoke at 300 protests. I know all the internal mechanisms, from the language that had to be used to the system of donations to associations. That is why now they fear me and want me dead”.
Do you feel guilty? “I think that those of us who went up on those stages have some dead in conscience. We have been great cowards, all of us anti-vaccines. We went to the squares and when we spoke we knew that people wanted to hear strong things. So you provoke more and more. In vaccines there is water from the sewage, the coffins in Bergamo were all empty, with the Covid nobody died… We were really big ■■■■■■■■■ I don’t hide, that’s the truth. One day we should be responsible for these things. Unfortunately. For this I have I apologized to everyone but that forgiveness is useless".
How do you lose rationality? “You don’t realize it. You lose your mind being a rational person. At that moment a dangerous process takes place. Going against vaccines is a faith and you become a god. They call you because their child was born or to leave you their property. You go into absolute madness. The anti-vaccines are people who are very afraid and find security in you. I had everything. Private clients had multiplied by a thousand. For a visit, I could ask for any amount. Like me, many professionals. There are lawyers who ask for tens of thousands of euros for resources that they already know are losers. One, for example, carried out 8 collective actions and became a millionaire for fear of anti-vaccines”.
Are we talking about a real economy of anti-vaccines? “Right. Class action lawsuits, web, foundations, clients for everyone from doctors to restaurants. That’s why so many people are terrified this is going to end. And why Mimmo Biscardi’s death, one of many ballgames created at the table, it only brings advantages to this system because it feeds the desire for revenge of a movement that is a religion”.
A lot of money? “There was an economic mind behind all of this. For two years it was as if there was no brand without vaccines. Restaurants, doctors, lawyers, surveying engineers, professors, a world of anti-vaccine providers willing to receive anti-vaccine customers.”
And in the associations? “The associations that refer to the anti-vaccines have bank accounts with 400,000 euros. The donations are many. Just look at who they are and who presides over them to understand everything. They are all well-off elderly people. The old magistrate, the old doctor, the old legal adviser. All professionals at the end of their careers who have launched a toy for old age, to satisfy their perversions.”
What about politics? “The political infiltration of the anti-vaccines is present. We were a huge electorate. I was there when the politicians paid us for the boxes and asked us to say something about local issues in each square.”
Was there also someone in communication addressing you? “True. We were trained in what to say, and not by the newcomer, but by those who had directed the national news. So a spontaneous process was generated. For example, when I went on stage the last time, at the Circus Maximus, I was already in crisis. In front of 15,000 people I said that vaccines immunize, that we couldn’t keep saying the opposite. But people were exultant, they still applauded me, there were people who touched my legs and cried. Although I said the opposite of what they thought, they did not listen. A god spoke. It could not have been Bacchus the heretic who betrayed them, it was his audience. There are many who are still convinced that all this is being done to ward off the strong powers imposed by the vaccine.”
What are you doing now? "I try to remedy my mistakes, I tell, I reveal the background. I try to make people open their eyes. I got vaccinated, I am suspended from the medical order for 6 months and I have not appealed because I feel I was wrong and I accept it. Being an anti-vaccine can be a business and opportunity turns a man into a thief.
I have been known myself for being a little long winded in that respect